SOFTribe, CAGD fight needless – Duffuor

A former Minister of Finance Dr Kwabena Duffuor is calling on the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) and software firm SOFTribe to ceasefire over who to blame for a bloated public payroll system.

The CAGD has faulted SOFTribe’s ‘Akatua’ software for revelations by IMANI Ghana of supposed rot in the public payroll system. IMANI Ghana had accused the department of supervising a bloated public payroll system.

The principal government accountant Grace Francisca Adzroe has threatened to sue the software outfit for publishing confidential letters covering its contract with the government to set the records straight. However, SOFTribe said it resorted to making the documents public to clear the air and not to spite the Ghana government.

Dr Duffuor, who once served as a governor of the Bank of Ghana, said the two parties should look for solutions instead of crossing swords.

“I don’t think the Controller and SOFTribe should fight over this. We should look at the issue critically because every money we lose affects a child in a school, somebody at the hospital and even affects the whole country,” Dr Duffuor told Accra-based Citi FM.

“It is not an issue we should fight over. What can we do… If there is anything like a software which software can clean the payroll to stop the leakages – it affects everybody including those who are quarrelling or fighting. We should clean it to maximize revenue… It can be done and we should stop the fighting,” he added.