Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has warned public servants who aid in the validation of non-existent employees, commonly referred to as “ghost names”, on government payrolls.

He vowed they will be held personally accountable for the loss of public funds.

Delivering the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament on Thursday, July 24, he revealed that government, as part of its fiscal consolidation agenda, has taken sweeping steps to purge the public payroll system of fraudulent entries that continue to drain national resources.

“Mr. Speaker, going forward, we will enforce the monthly payroll validation process and strictly apply sanctions to all who validate ‘ghosts’ for payment of salaries,” Dr. Forson declared.

He did not mince words about the consequences: “Let me use this opportunity to strongly caution those who validate ‘ghosts’ across the public service that they will be personally liable for the loss of public funds.”

The Finance Minister’s strong stance follows the near-completion of a nationwide payroll audit being conducted by the Ghana Audit Service.

According to him, 91% of the exercise has been completed across all 16 regions of the country, uncovering widespread anomalies.

“So far, the Audit Service has not been able to identify and verify over 14,000 workers. Additionally, they have identified 53,311 separated staff,” Dr Forson disclosed.

He explained that “separated staff” refers to individuals who have either retired, resigned, been terminated, are on leave without pay, or are deceased, but have somehow remained on the government payroll, collecting salaries they are no longer entitled to.

The Audit Service estimates that a total of GH¢150.4 million in unearned salaries from these separated individuals is expected to be recovered between 2023 and 2024.

“Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable. We are losing money to ghosts while real people and real needs go unattended,” Dr. Forson stressed.

He assured Parliament that the Ministry of Finance will remain vigilant, intensifying payroll monitoring and instituting long-term preventive measures to block ghost names from infiltrating the system.

This crackdown on payroll fraud forms part of the government’s broader effort to tighten expenditure, reduce waste, and restore fiscal discipline in the wake of Ghana’s ongoing economic recovery drive.