Ghosts At Controller

The payroll malaise which has afflicted the public sector is an indication of how the Controller and Accountant General is unable to rule the roost as it were.

Indeed the situation is another symptom of a Ghana suffering unspeakable tribulations. A reference to the situation as one in which things are falling apart would not be out of place; otherwise how can so much money be dissipated on ghosts when same could have been used on the living?

The conclusion can be drawn without dispute that the biometric system introduced to forestall such thievery has failed to hold the ghosts at bay, leaving them to go on the prowl somewhat uninhibited. We have wasted valuable money on a project which has failed to live up to expectation.

When the EU raised a red flag about ghost names on the public payroll, not much attention was directed at the issue. We appeared to have taken things for granted, reducing what should have attracted the attention of all Ghanaians to mere airwave politicking and trading of insults.

The EU was constrained therefore to withhold a standard budgetary input for the country, the repercussions of which are evidenced by an infected and rundown economy. But for a few headlines on the development, no move was made to pull the brakes on the financial hemorrhage.

If the information reaching us to the effect that the much-touted Chinese loan failed to come because of a similar observation by the mongoloids, then a total overhaul of the system would not be out of place. Unfortunately with the other components constituting Ghana already infected by the cancer, piecemeal treatment as is always the response when anomalies are highlighted would be an exercise in futility. We are in for a long haul.

We are amazed that the Controller is denying responsibility for the financial aberration, claiming rather lamely that theirs at the department is to ensure payment. We are unable to digest this defence which in our estimation smacks of gross irresponsibility.

Any anomalies in the payroll, including the infestation of ghosts as being rightly observed, should be blamed on the Controller, period. The buck should definitely stop somewhere. Where else than the Controller's ornate desk?

We have taken note of the introduction of the biometric system to forestall such payroll thievery, which unfortunately means nothing if it is not backed by efficient verification mechanisms.

Somebody must answer a litany of questions.