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Ministry of
Finance clarifies issues on payroll administration
Accra, Dec. 19, Ghanadot/GNA – The Ministry
of Finance and Economic Planning on Friday clarified several
issues concerning payroll administration.
The following is the full text of a statement on the subject
signed by Mr Anthony Akoto Osei, Minister of State, Ministry
of Finance and Economic Planning.
Full text.
The Government, through the Controller and
Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) has held three press
conferences: November 4th, December 4th and December 15th to
address concerns regarding the Payroll Administration; in
particular, issues related to the Hardware, Software
Upgrades, Migration from the IPPD-1 to IPPD-2, Salary
arrears, negative pays, overpayment recovery etc.
The press conferences have enabled government to reach
affected staff throughout the country, providing the
explanations, as well as informing them of solutions to the
arrears owed arising to staff promotions, grade changes,
etc.
As explained in earlier press releases, our Payroll
Administration comprises of two (2) steps:
Step 1 – input on the individual staff which are keyed into
the payroll system by the MDAs; the CAGD has no role / nor
control over this process, as this is handled purely by the
Human Resource Units of the MDAs.
Step 2 – Controller runs the payroll monthly, based on data
received from a personnel database which has been keyed in
by the MDAs. Thus the name Integrated Personnel and Payroll
Database (IPPD).
Normally, the monthly payroll at the CAGD begins with a
process that runs through staff payment history to extract
salary arrears arising resulting from salary grade
adjustments, promotions, new recruitments etc that takes
retrospective effect. Thereafter, the current month’s
payroll is processed and the results are combined with the
salary arrears and processed for payment through the banks.
In November and December 2008, the current month’s salaries
were processed to the banks separately from the salary
arrears. This is to allow GOG employees to clearly
distinguish the current month’s salaries from the salary
arrears.
On Thursday, 18th December, 2008, MOFEP met with officials
of the Ghana Education Services (GES) and the Ghana National
Association of Teachers (GNAT) to address any issues still
outstanding. During the discussions, it was identified that
four (4) categories of GES staff needed immediate attention.
These are:
(i) the staff who have just been hired from Training
Colleges;
(ii) payment of arrears to GES staff who retired in 2008
(iii) blocked salary of staff not at post during head count
exercise
(iv) teachers who have completed study leave without pay
(For information purposes, the current staff strength of GES
is estimated at 246,000).
(a) The staff who have just been hired from Training
Colleges: These staff number about 2,159; and have had their
employment input forms completed and lodged with the GES
Headquarters. As explained above, the GES Headquarters would
need to complete their processes before forwarding data to
CAGD.
In the interim, the Controller and Accountant-General has
been directed by MOFEP to prepare a supplementary voucher to
manually process the payroll of these affected staff before
Tuesday 23rd December, 2008 to enable them receive their
outstanding salaries before Christmas. When schools reopen
for the second term, the GES Headquarters will obtain
financial clearance for this category of staff to
automatically receive their salary beginning January 2009,
through the normal pay process as all other staff in the
Service.
(b) Payment of Arrears to GES Staff who retired in 2008
In discussions with GNAT last year (2007), an understanding
was reached that an approved 10% salary increase to staff of
GES in 2007 would (due to address budgetary constraints), be
extended through 2008. Amongst this category of staff, is a
group of staff numbering about 3,500 who retired before the
full completion of payment of the arrears.
The CAGD has been encountering difficulties in paying the
arrears to this category of retired staff because their
names have been taken off the payroll as it is normally done
when staff retire.
During the discussions, the GNAT provided the names of the
affected retirees. The Controller has been directed by MOFEP
to pay these persons manually before Christmas. For the
avoidance of doubt, all legitimate moneys due any retired
staff will be paid.
(c) Blocked Salary of Staff not at Post during CAGD Head
Count
These were staff who were not at post during the countrywide
exercise to clean the payroll of ghost names.
If there are any persons who have been affected but are at
post, we urgently request them to apply through their
District Directors of Education to CAGD through GES
Headquarters to regularise their records. They would then be
restored and all arrears due them paid.
(d) Teachers who have completed study leave without pay
A fourth category of affected staff are the teachers who
gained admission to various tertiary institutions on ‘study
leave without pay’ and have completed their course of study
in 2008 awaiting to be re-engaged by GES.
During our discussions, it was clarified that these staff
are already within the approved staff strength of GES. As
such, the GES will proceed with the re-entry formalities
into the various districts and regions where vacancies have
been identified; and subsequently notify the Controller for
them to be placed on the payroll.
In closing, we stressed again that any affected staff in GES
and any other staff on the IPPD system who may be
encountering payroll difficulties are encouraged to call the
CAGD on the under listed toll-free numbers:
* GT and ONETOUCH - 080010200
* MTN - 18020
* KASAPA - 10200
We are committed to be of service to our clients. Your
feedback is valued to enable us improve our service. We
trust that the immediate solutions to addressing the
concerns of the identified categories of staff will enable
all staff in the GES, other services and MDAs to have a
happy holiday season.
GNA |
