IMANI Alert: IMF, Development Partners and GoG: Fix Messy Mechanized Payroll before IMF Programme.

1) Government of Ghana (GoG), The IMF, The World Bank, The EU, DFID and others are working on a bailout package to help salvage our current depressing economic situation.

2) In the ongoing negotiations and according to statements made by GoG, Ghana's bloated public wage bill has been fingered as one of the sources of our economic decline.

3) If the bailout package is to be successful, it is absolutely imperative that the bloated government wage bill should be arrested and corrected. If this is not done, the funds Ghana receives via this package may end up in a bottomless pit via the same government wage payroll route.

4) IMANI has been researching this matter for a while.

5) IMANI has learnt that payroll operations consists of three broad areas:

a) Payroll administration
b) Payroll rules and procedures
c) Payroll processing technology

6) IMANI has discovered major problems in all three areas.

7) IMANI will start with Payroll processing technology

IMANI has recently intercepted a report on the technology platform IPPD2 (Oracle) that is used to process a portion of the mechanized payroll. This damning report finally begins to expose why the GoG payroll is bloated and unreliable and contributing to the near collapse of our economy.

IMANI has also heard claims by The Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) that all the issues mentioned in the report have been rectified such that the said payroll technology platform (IPPD2/Oracle) is now operating without any issues.

IMANI has also seen a report that states that this controversial technology platform (IPPD2/Oracle) has been proposed to our donor partners as the way forward regarding our bailout package.

IMANI Sources in the corridors of CAGD, Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Ghana Health Service (GHS) have assured IMANI that this claim is COMPLETELY FALSE.

These sources further claim that the cover up of the system flaws are as a result of the gargantuan contract sums associated with the operation of the Oracle platform and the chop chop there off.

They have further assured IMANI that there are far cheaper and far more efficient ways to computerize GoG payroll which are not being considered because of the chop chop by their bosses.

It is in fact the case that The Ghana Education Service (GES) that makes up the largest portion of GoG payroll was left with no option but to migrate to another platform to clear the two year plus wait period for new teachers to be mechanized and other major problems that contribute to corruption associated with running the payroll.

Ghana Health Service (GHS) employees who are still been processed on the Oracle platform still experience these long unnecessary enrollment delays.

IMANI will continue to expose this matter especially as regards the said associated gargantuan contracts.

8) IMANI calls for the IMF, The World Bank, The EU, DFID et al to immediately and urgently institute a thorough, transparent investigation into these issues if the bailout is to have any hope of succeeding.

9) It is important to state that Government's total revenue has increased since 2010. Tax revenue has increased steadily over the past five years thus bolstering confidence in the projected revenue for 2015. Using actual revenues for 2010-2013, and projected values for 2014, it becomes evident that non-tax revenue, grants and other sources of funds have increased in their share of contribution to total revenue. These notwithstanding, the bloated payroll will continue to derail efforts at applying critical resources for the country's development.

10) For now here is the first report in our possession. READ & WEEP for mother Ghana. (Attached KPMG Final audit report)