Vice President and 2024 Flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has said that linking all government workers to their Ghana Cards has saved the country from paying salaries to 'ghost names.'

 According to him, prior to the introduction of the Ghana Card, salaries were paid to individuals who did not earn them.

Speaking to the clergy on June 3, the NPP flagbearer stated that the initiative has been able to identify ghost names on the payroll and stopped the corrupt activities that usually occur.

“One of the areas that we have been able to really make progress is ghosts names. This is huge corruption that was taking place, because people were put on payroll without working, and other people will collect their salaries.

"So I said that the solution to this problem is to link every worker to their Ghana Card. Once you link every worker to their Ghana Card that means you link every worker's fingerprint. And every fingerprint is unique. And we know ghosts don't have fingerprint.

“Immediately we did that, the ghosts ran away, they ran away across. National service scheme alone, 44,000 ghost names ran away. The SSNIT pension scheme, 29,000 ghost names, national service we saved over GH₵400 million, SSNIT over GH₵300 million.

"Two institutions alone over GH₵700 million saved just by taking out the ghost names. So you can see the extent of the problem. And now we can say we've cleaned up the controller database," he said.

• Read also: Let’s figure out how to complete National Cathedral project – Bawumia tells Clergy

Also, Dr Bawumia called on the clergy to collaborate with the government to find a way forward in completing the controversial National Cathedral project.

He stressed the need for the church to unite and engage with the government to explore ways to secure private resources to complete the project.