Ghana’s Auditor-General has clawed back GHS10mn ($820,000) in unearned salaries from public servants who continued to draw pay long after leaving their jobs, in a crackdown on “ghost workers” draining the state coffers.

Daily Graphic quoted Auditor-General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu as confirming that the monies have been refunded voluntarily by those implicated and have been paid into the government’s Consolidated Fund.

“The audit is still ongoing, but we have already seen significant results,” he told the newspaper.

The audit has so far found that 53,311 people who had officially exited the public service - through retirement, termination, resignation or death - remained on the payroll, leading to unearned salary payments of more than GHS150mn ($12mn).

Of these, 2,446 former staff were inexplicably still paid after their departure, according to the report covering 2023 to April 2025. The Auditor-General has demanded that ministries and local government bodies urgently recover the full sum.

The report describes a “catastrophic breakdown” in payroll management across ministries, departments, agencies and local authorities, warning that weak financial controls continue to undermine accountability.

Asiedu said his office’s proactive approach - notifying individuals of discrepancies - had helped secure refunds without costly litigation. He warned, however, that investigations would extend to officials who authorised the fraudulent payments.

“Recovering the money is one thing, but ensuring accountability and preventing a recurrence is another. We are not stopping at the recovery. My office is collaborating with the CID to identify and go after the persons who validated these unearned salaries,” he said.

“These are the payroll officers, the controllers, the human resource personnel, and the heads of institutions who either negligently or complicitly allowed this to happen. Their actions constitute a serious crime against the state.”

The Auditor-General’s office is preparing dossiers on those officials for police investigation and possible prosecution.

Government response

President John Mahama last week announced that special courts will be set up to fast-track Auditor-General cases, ensuring quicker prosecutions and recovery of stolen funds.

Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told parliament in July that the payroll audit had identified more than 53,000 ghost names and projected that unearned salaries could exceed GHS150mn.

Despite previous reforms, including the introduction of an integrated payroll database to eliminate ghost names, recurring audit findings show systemic lapses.

Asiedu urged others who may have received undeserved payments to return the money voluntarily: “It will save them from facing the full rigours of the law when they are eventually caught.”