The Auditor-General, Mr. Daniel Yaw Domelevo has appealed to everyone to help his outfit to clean the government payroll to ensure a credible public payroll system. He made the call at the launch of the National Payroll and Personnel Verification Audit (NPPVA) in Accra.

Speaking at the launch, the A-G said the Audit Service had completed the enumeration of government employees in nine out of the ten regions of Ghana between July and November, 2018. He stated however that the Greater Accra region which is the national capital was the last to be enumerated from 12 – 19 December, 2018. There will also be a mop up from 20-21 December, 2018 to give government employees who could not be enumerated through out the country to do so in the Greater Accra region, he added..

The NPPVA is a special audit in line with section 16 of the Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584). Mr. Domelevo said “…when this audit is completed, I will issue management letters to all heads of Ministries, Departments and other Agencies (MDAs) drawing salaries from the Controller and Accountant-General”.. In accordance with section 29 of Act 584, these heads of MDAs will be given 30 days to provide responses to outstanding issues or observations.

He said “if my outfit does not receive any clear explanations, I will go ahead and issue my report to Parliament and where necessary, Head of MDA’s who had failed to clean their payroll of separated staff would be surcharged”. Separated staffs are employees of an organisation who have either resigned, been dismissed, retired, or are dead but whose details continue to be on the payroll of the organisation.

The A-G urged staff of the Service to be resolute in the discharge of their duties and encouraged them to do their work well. He advised persons who frequently alter their birth dates to desist from doing so.

On his part, the Deputy Auditor-General responsible for the audit of MDAs, Mr. George Winful disclosed that the team was hoping to enumerate about 78,000 government workers in the Greater Accra Region. He said the Service had set up about 57 enumeration centres across the region. These include all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and hospitals within the region, the Electoral Commission head office, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Finance Annex, Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council.

The Controller and Accountant General, Mr. Eugene Ofosuhene, praised the Audit Service for carrying out the audit. He said the Ministry of Finance and his Department had embarked on projects aimed at improving systems for managing public funds in the last eight years. Notable among these interventions was the electronic salary payment voucher (ESPV).

In his welcome address, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr. Ishmael Ashitey, said the exercise would help government to pay genuine workers and create further employment avenues for the teaming youth. He therefore appealed for support for the Audit Service in conducting this audit.
The Chairman of the Public Services Commission, Mrs. Janet Ampadu Fofie, who chaired the launch appealed to public workers to make punctuality their watchword in the coming year.