The Controller and Accountant General’s Department says it is taking steps to retrieve eight months over-payment of allowances to final year students of the Ada College of Education.

This follows Joy News investigations which revealed that the students received a bulk payment of eight months allowances they were not entitled to.

Government recently abolished teacher trainee allowances but the move does not affect continuing students.

The Controller and Accountant General’s Department tells Joy News the students' allowances will be blocked till February next year.

Manasseh Azure Awuni reports documents available to Joy News indicate that in May this year, final year students of the Ada College of Education received eight months’ allowances they were not entitled to.

The students were owed arrears for eight months but our investigation shows that those arrears were paid in full in March this year. Pay slips Joy News intercepted however, reveal that the students were again paid the bulk arrears two months later.

When Joy News contacted the Integrated Personnel Payroll Database, IPPD, of the Ghana Education Service with the evidence, officials of the unit said they had not detected the anomaly.

They, however, said the blunder could have been caused by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department. Head of Payroll at the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, George Kofi Baah, also said they had not noticed the anomaly when Joy News contacted him.

He however took the evidence, checked with their system and later confirmed that the students had indeed been overpaid by eight months. He explained the blunder was caused by an error in the system.

Responding to the issues of wrongful payments of allowances to the students, the President of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the Ada College of Education, Paul Dornu, who also benefitted from the payment told JoyNews that they did not know they were over paid.

According to him, the students were not paid any allowances the whole of 2011, when they entered the college and therefore though the payments were areas paid to them.

He, however, agreed that they received payment of arrears in March 2013 and received another payment the same months in May.   

Joy News sources in the school say when students received the bulk payment, some of them suggested that the said amount be returned to government chest. Some of them, our sources say would be imprudent to return the money. Each of the 177 students received 2,765 Ghana cedis. In all the students are to refund close to GHC 500,000.

Meanwhile the Head of Payroll at the Controller and Accountant General’s Department blamed the blunder entirely on the software. He said no individual would be held liable. He said the system had a way of discovering such anomalies anytime there is such over-payments.

Interestingly, the overpayment was made in May and until Joy News confronted them with evidence, they had not detected it.