Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the minister of finance, has warned public servants who intentionally put individuals who don’t exist or aren’t qualified on the government payroll that they will be held personally responsible.
After presenting the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review, Dr. Forson revealed in an interview with the Citi Breakfast Show that continuous audits have found an alarming number of anomalies in the public wage system.
“So far, we’ve found about 14,000 people that we can’t validate. We can’t find them. They may be ghosts,” he said. “They are across sectors.”
In addition to the suspected ghost names, Dr. Forson revealed that approximately 53,000 “separated staff” — individuals who are retired, deceased, dismissed, or otherwise no longer eligible — have been identified as still appearing on the government’s payroll.
“These are people not supposed to be on the payroll,” he stressed. “I am waiting for the Auditor-General to provide the final numbers. Not only the Controller [and Accountant-General’s Department]; they all have questions to answer.”
The remarks made by Dr. Forson point to structural flaws in Ghana’s public payroll validation procedures and indicate a fresh effort to streamline the system as part of broader improvements to public financial management.
He issued the following direct warning to hospital executives, school heads, and other government representatives engaged in staff validation.
“Let me use your medium to send a caution to those who validate ghosts across the economy. You are playing with public funds and may be personally liable for the validations you’ve done over the years.” He said.