Dr. Clement Apaak, the deputy minister of education, revealed that the government is looking into allegations of collaboration in the payment of exorbitant salaries to certain Ghana Education Service (GES) employees.
In his August 22 address to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Dr. Apaak emphasized that it was impossible to overlook corrupt actions within the system.
“The aspect of dishonesty cannot be overlooked, but I must state that we know of instances of collusion,” he said.
According to him, some people purposefully manipulated salary arrangements to drain state monies. He described the event as concerning, especially given that the Controller and Accountant-General had acted outside of their authority.
“Let’s not mince words, because it is very strange that the Controller and Accountant-General would on their own decide to pay the staff of GES at a rate higher than what they ought to be getting,” Dr. Apaak reiterated.
The Deputy Minister also assured the committee that actions were being implemented to resolve the matter.
He confirmed that the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with relevant agencies, is keen to expose individuals behind such fraudulent schemes.
“When the Director-General spoke about some work that we are doing, some of these issues were being considered, and sooner than later, those who have made it their mission to fleece the state through all kinds of schemes will be duly exposed. I want to reassure the committee of that,” he stated.
The PAC is currently analyzing the conclusions of the Auditor-General’s report, which identified various payroll irregularities in the educational sector.
Source: newsthemegh.com