The spokesperson for former Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has challenged the Ministry of Finance's claim that thousands of Ghana Education Service (GES) staff were recruited in 2024 without financial clearance.

According to Yaw Opoku Mensah, official records from the Ministry itself show that financial clearance was granted for the recruitment of teachers in 2024.

“The Finance Ministry needs a refresher course in its own records,” Mr Opoku Mensah said in a response to a statement issued by the Ministry on Tuesday, September 8.

The Ministry of Finance had stated that the government inherited 6,300 GES staff in 2025 who had been recruited in 2024 without financial clearance.

It said Cabinet approval was subsequently secured and financial clearance issued in four tranches to address their salary payment concerns, adding that all 6,300 staff covered by the arrangement had been paid.

However, Mr Opoku Mensah rejected the assertion that workers were recruited outside financial clearance.

“For the avoidance of doubt, not a single person was recruited outside the financial clearance granted in 2024. Every individual recruited had their name and particulars captured on the GES master list,” he stated.

A financial clearance letter issued by the Ministry of Finance on May 10, 2024, granted approval to the Minister for Education to enable the Ghana Education Service to recruit 2,000 graduate teachers to augment the staffing strength of the Service.

The letter further directed the Director-General of the GES to ensure that the newly recruited teachers had their documents processed and were placed on the mechanised payroll in time to enable the Controller and Accountant-General's Department to pay their salaries.

It stated that the effective date of appointment should not be earlier than August 1, 2024, and directed the Controller and Accountant-General's Department to effect the payment of salaries and make the necessary statutory deductions.

The clearance was valid until December 31, 2024.

Mr Opoku Mensah argued that the documents were official records available to the relevant state institutions and could easily be verified.

“These are not secret documents hidden in someone’s bedroom; they are official records that can be verified,” he said.

He maintained that recruitment under the previous administration was conducted transparently, arguing that financial clearances and details of those recruited were made publicly available.

Mr Opoku Mensah accused the current administration of attempting to shift responsibility for the salary challenges facing some workers to the previous government.

“You cannot manufacture a problem and then conveniently blame the previous administration for the mess you have created. That is not governance; that is an attempt to run away from responsibility,” he stated.

He insisted that the main issue was the payment of legitimately recruited workers.

“The facts are available. The records are available. The workers are available. What is missing is simple: payment,” he stressed.

The Finance Ministry, however, maintains that all 6,300 GES staff covered under the special arrangement have been paid and advised any worker with unresolved salary or arrears concerns to contact the Ghana Education Service to resolve the relevant payroll or administrative issues.