Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has disclosed that a thorough nationwide payroll audit has uncovered discrepancies in public sector wage distributions, revealing 14,000 ghost employees and 53,307 former staff still receiving salaries.
During the presentation of the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament on Thursday, July 24, 2025, Dr. Forson announced that the Ghana Audit Service, which was tasked by the Ministry of Finance with conducting a thorough payroll audit across all sixteen regions, has reached 91% completion
“So far, the Audit Service has not been able to identify or verify more than 14,000 workers”, he said.
He also noted that 53,307 people who have either attained retirement age, been transferred, fired, deceased or leave without salary are still being paid by the government.
“The Audit Service anticipates recovering at least GHS150.4 million in unpaid salaries from the separated employees between the 2023 and 2024 timeframe, ” he stated.
Dr. Forson expressed concern over the results and emphasized the importance of implementing stringent payroll validation methods going ahead.
