The Auditor-General’s Office has apologised for a miscalculation in its statewide payroll audit that incorrectly linked a public servant to an alleged unearned salary exceeding GH¢427 million.
The explanation comes after the audit’s results, which were extensively reported by several media outlets and spanned the period from January 1, 2023, to June 30, 2025, sparked public outrage.
The Auditor-General’s office stated in a statement issued on Tuesday that the amount of GH¢427,995,661.40, which was first ascribed to an individual, was the consequence of a transpositional error and had nothing to do with the individual mentioned in previous reports.
The statement explained, “The GH₵427,995,661.40 relates to the Ministry of Education in respect of 3,476 unaccounted staff during the payroll audit.”
The Office acknowledged the reputational harm caused by the error and offered an unconditional apologies to Frank Oliver Kpodo, the impacted individual, the government, the public, and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD).
“We extend our most sincere and unreserved apologies to Frank Oliver Kpodo for the distress and unwarranted public scrutiny this error may have caused.”
The development represents a substantial departure from previous interpretations of the audit findings, which had indicated that the named official received unearned salaries totalling more than GH¢14 million on average each month.
The statistic is now placed within a larger institutional framework by the Auditor-General’s clarification, which indicates that it pertains to inconsistencies involving thousands of unaccounted individuals under the Ministry of Education payroll.
The Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) has also responded to the controversy by denying several social media accusations that a senior government official in the Ministry of Defence received comparable sums of undeserved salary.
According to the Department, Ghana’s public payroll system has several levels of protection intended to stop these kinds of irregularities.
“The Government of Ghana payroll system runs on controls and automations which allow only approved pay structures by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to be processed for employees eligible by their conditions of service,” the Department said.
It further clarified that salary payments are subject to stringent validation processes, such as internal checks to find anomalies and approvals by heads of covered organisations.
“Monthly salaries are paid to eligible employees on the Government of Ghana payroll after online validation… These monthly payments are further subjected to internal quality processes to validate each salary payment,” the statement continued.
The CAGD emphasised that overpayments of the size claimed would not be feasible under the current procedures, reiterating trust in its processes.
The statement highlighted that “it is therefore impossible under the current payroll arrangement to pay a government employee salary in excess of what is legally due that employee.”
Additionally, the Department urged that claims be confirmed prior to publication and urged caution in the reporting and dissemination of sensitive financial information.
Source: newsthemegh.com