Abstract
The salary payment of government workers constitute a significant percentage of total government expenditure in developing economies, simply because the government remains the largest or biggest employer. The Government Payroll system, therefore, requires a robust control mechanism to detect and prevent the occurrence of “payroll fraud”, as the irregularity denies the state of huge sums of monies going down the drain and into private pockets, and which could have otherwise been channelled into some critical sectors of the economy; and to minimise the excessive borrowing by government to fill the gap. The several efforts and reforms by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) and the Ghana Audit Service (GAS) in particular; and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in general, to clean the Government Payroll of these “payroll frauds” consistently over the years have not yielded the desired results. The various studies conducted on “payroll fraud” in Ghana did not address themselves to the introduction of the “Electronic-Salary Payment Voucher (E-SPV) system since 2014, which was hailed by many as the final panacea to the “annual ritual of ghost workers on the government payroll”. To fill the gap, we conducted this empirical cross-sectional research on “payroll fraud” based on the “fraud triangle theory” and the “graft estimation model”. We employed non probability purposive, but convenient, sampling methodology by means of structured questionnaires and face-to-face interviews to arrive at our conclusion. Our major finding was that “payroll fraud” can never be eliminated (but only minimised), and must therefore be treated and necessarily managed to the barest minimum (between 1% and 5%), just as normal “bad debts” in Financial Statements. Policy makers will have to revisit the issues about “Ghost Workers”, in the midst of the novel and dreaded, and disastrous Convid-19 pandemic.
Highlights
In Obasanjo’s National Broadcast on June 18th 2003 and his address at the inauguration of the National Assembly on June 5, 2003, he drew attention to several aspects of our national life which must be addressed in order to move the nation forward
The Council of State earlier that day deliberated extensively on these issues and agreed on the need for a Technical Committee to examine the various problems associated with the structure of Government at the local government level in the country and make proposals which may involve the amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999
Available reports indicate that public office holders and those canvassing for elective offices became victims of predatory financial pressures from the electorate and various interest groups
Summary
Speaking while winding down the existence of the Danjuma 26-man advisory group which he constituted in March last year, President Jonathan said the federal cabinet was large due to the constitutional provision which stipulates that each state of the country must produce a minister. He said: Your suggestion for a smaller cabinet is excellent and I agree with you, but this cannot be achieved without constitutional amendment.”. “the demonstrable ability and capacity of the Nigerian state to deliver quality goods and services to the people of Nigeria in cost-effective, efficient and timely manner is eroded with great rapidity,” he lamented
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