Isaac Bampoe Addo, Executive Director of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG), has described the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission’s (FWSC) decision to conduct payroll monitoring as a “job for the boys.”
After describing the move as payroll auditing, which the Commission actually intends to do, he stated that Ghanaians do not require such an exercise to be carried out by the FWSC.
Payroll auditing, according to Mr Bampoe Addo, is the responsibility of the Internal Audit Agency and the Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD), not the FWSC.
In an interview, CLOGSAG Executive Secretary Isaac Bampoe Addo stated, “One is perplexed as to what they are up to because, based on what they stated in their public notice, it clearly has something to do with the collective bargaining process.”
“Fair wages negotiates on behalf of the government; they have no business doing what they want to do because what they want to do is essentially payroll auditing, which is not their mandate.”
“This is comparable to the number of consultancies given in the name of ghost names.” This is similar to consulting ‘goro’ boys in the name of ghost names. We’re sick of ghost names; they’re just a way for the boys to get jobs.
“This is not their mandate, and they have no business auditing payroll.” What auditing and accounting capabilities do they have? There are organizations that deal with this, such as the Internal Audit Agency and the Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD).
The FWSC says it will begin a Nationwide Payroll Monitoring Exercise next month to clean up the public sector payroll.
The exercise, it said, would be carried out in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
According to a public notice issued by the Commission’s Public Affairs Unit, the exercise will identify and eliminate any existing fraud and anomalies in the public sector payroll.
“It is also intended to ensure that only approved salaries and allowances are paid,” according to the notice.
The Commission has asked all boards and councils, as well as heads of public sector institutions, to “conduct their own internal payroll audit and clean-up ahead of the Commission’s.”
“This exercise should include basic salaries as well as all allowances and benefits.”
“By this communication, banks and individuals who have received fraudulent salaries and allowances are also advised to take steps to refund them and cease further fraudulent practices, or face the full rigors of the law.”
