Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and former Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare, has blamed the resurgence of payroll fraud in the public sector on excessive centralisation and weak accountability systems, calling for immediate structural reforms and sanctions.

Speaking on The Pulse on JoyNews, Ms Osei Asare expressed alarm over the sharp increase in fraudulent payroll-related expenditures, which she said had ballooned by 300 per cent in 2024 after a successful reduction to GH¢14 million in 2023.

“If everything is done at the centre, which is the headquarters, you would have some of these challenges,” she said.

“We need to decentralise some of these processes and systems and let it be robust. Once we do that, we would see a drop.”

She noted that while some irregularities may occur due to the size and complexity of the public payroll, the magnitude of the 2024 figures was unacceptable.

“It shouldn’t come to this level,” she said, insisting that such an increase signals lapses in oversight and enforcement.

“There are some lapses in the system that people must be held responsible for,” she added.

She urged that powers and responsibilities be devolved to ensure more effective management and oversight at regional and local levels.

“We should decentralise, and we should sanction those who, in one way or another, shirk their responsibilities and refuse to do the needful even though they have been asked to.”