Public sector workers face salary loss in August

The Controller and Accountant-General (CAG), Eugene Ofosuhene, has warned Heads of Departments and Agencies in the public sector to validate their employees before August or risk forfeiting their salaries.

CAG, on a monthly basis pays the salaries of over 500,000 employees across the across the country.

The caution follows government’s decision to upgrade workers onto the Electronic Salary Payment Voucher (ESPV) in a bid to ensure prudent financial management.

At a stakeholders’ engagement on ESPV in Accra, the CAG emphasized that: “We will stop salaries of HoDs and their staff for non-validation with effect from August 2017.

For 2017, HoDs who fail to do the validation of their staff, their salaries will be frozen and the officers who are not validated will have their salaries frozen that is the message. As we move into next month’s salary, it will be rigidly applied; no validation, no pay,” Mr. Ofosuhene said.

The ESPV was rolled out in 2014 after several months of stakeholder engagements and sensitization.

“The truth is that if all stakeholders collaborate and play their respective roles well, the issue of ghost names and unearned salaries would be a thing of the past. It is certainly a very good initiative and the huge investments made in it cannot be made to go waste,” he said.

The objective of the meeting, the CAG explained was to re-orient Heads of Department and Unions on the importance of ESPV, bring to the fore challenges threatening the ESPV and also to accord Heads of MDAs and other stakeholders to seek clarification on issues pertaining to ESPV and Payroll Administration generally.