Former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, has raised concerns over the credibility of the country’s national payroll system following revelations of large-scale financial irregularities at the National Service Authority (NSA) payroll.
Discussing the scandal on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Mr Domelevo questioned how the NSA payroll could be exploited to siphon as much as GH¢2.2 billion from state funds, warning that the situation casts doubt on what might be happening within the broader national payroll.
“My biggest fear is if National Service payroll can be used to do this, then what is happening to the national payroll itself?,” he questioned.
“The bigger payroll, I don’t know what might be happening to it, because the National Service payroll is a small one, so the one which pays teachers, pays doctors and all public servants, I don’t know, only God knows what may be happening there,” he added.
His remarks come in the wake of recent disclosures by the Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, indicating that the NSA scandal has ballooned to GH¢2.2 billion after further investigations.
According to Dr. Dominic Ayine, the total amount of money allegedly stolen in the National Service Authority (NSA) “ghost names” scandal is now GHC2.2 billion, and not GHC548 million as announced earlier.
Mr Domelevo cautioned that if such massive fraud could occur within a single agency, there is an urgent need to audit and sanitise the entire public payroll system to prevent further financial losses to the state.
The legal battle
On October 17, the Accra High Court adjourned the NSA scandal proceedings.
The suspect, Deputy Executive Director of the Authority, Gifty Oware-Mensah, was absent at the court, leading to the decision to adjourn. She was said to have submitted a two-day medical excuse.
Read also: NSS Scandal: Court adjourns hearing as Gifty Oware submits two-day medical excuse