Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a member of parliament for the North Tongu seat, is urging for a long-term, scientific approach to stop the continuous use of phantom identities on government payrolls.
When the 2023 budget statement disclosed that 6,157 ghost workers had been removed from the payroll in the first half of the year, saving GHS14.61 million, Mr. Ablakwa made this statement.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Ablakwa highlighted that it is disappointing that the government has placed a complete moratorium on public sector employment but phantom workers continue to account for the majority of the payroll.
To this aim, he said that rather than just announcing a complete freeze on public sector employment, “Ghana needs a permanent scientific ghostbusters solution so we can replace the thousands of ghosts with actual desperate but extraordinarily brilliant unemployed kids.”
The problem of non-existent people receiving salaries from the government payroll is referred to as “ghost names.”