The Office of the Auditor-General has issued a formal apology after an error in its nationwide payroll audit wrongly linked a public servant to an alleged unearned salary exceeding GH¢427 million.
The clarification follows public controversy generated by findings from the audit, which covered the period from January 1, 2023, to June 30, 2025, and was widely reported by sections of the media.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Auditor-General’s office acknowledged that the figure of GH¢427,995,661.40, initially attributed to an individual, was the result of a transpositional error and did not relate to the person named in earlier reports.
“The GH₵427,995,661.40 relates to the Ministry of Education in respect of 3,476 unaccounted staff during the payroll audit,” the statement clarified.
The Office extended an unreserved apology to the affected individual, Frank Oliver Kpodo, as well as to the government, the public and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD), recognising the reputational damage caused by the error.
“We extend our most sincere and unreserved apologies to Frank Oliver Kpodo for the distress and unwarranted public scrutiny this error may have caused.”
The development marks a significant reversal from earlier interpretations of the audit findings, which had suggested that the named official received an average of more than GH¢14 million per month in unearned salaries.
The Auditor-General’s clarification now places the figure within a broader institutional context, indicating that it relates instead to discrepancies involving thousands of unaccounted personnel under the Ministry of Education payroll.
The controversy has also drawn a response from the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD), which has rejected separate claims circulating on social media that a senior civil servant at the Ministry of Defence received similar amounts in unearned salaries.
The Department maintained that Ghana’s public payroll system contains multiple layers of safeguards designed to prevent such anomalies.
“The Government of Ghana payroll system runs on controls and automations which allow only approved pay structures by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to be processed for employees eligible by their conditions of service,” the Department said.
It further explained that salary payments are subject to strict validation procedures, including approvals by heads of covered entities and internal checks to detect irregularities.
“Monthly salaries are paid to eligible employees on the Government of Ghana payroll after online validation… These monthly payments are further subjected to internal quality processes to validate each salary payment,” it added.
Reaffirming confidence in its systems, the CAGD insisted that overpayments of the magnitude alleged would not be possible under current arrangements.
“It is therefore impossible under the current payroll arrangement to pay a government employee salary in excess of what is legally due that employee,” the statement emphasised.
The Department also called for caution in the reporting and circulation of sensitive financial information, urging that claims be verified before publication.
