A civil servant in Ghana was paid ¢86,735 for no work done for a year

According to the Auditor General’s report which is being scrutinised by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, Dr Emmanuel Adjase collected ¢86,735($15,656) between December 2014 to December 2015 while posted at the College of Health Research at Kintampo in the Bono Ahafo region.

At the time, Dr Adjase was linked to a corrupt practice after which he was asked to step aside for an investigation into the allegation.

The Comptroller and Accountant-General’s Department which pays public sector employees still continued to pay Dr. Adjase averagely ¢7,227 per month even though he was not to be paid.

At the PAC hearing, it was revealed that the Auditor-General has recommended that the Ministry recovers the money from the employee or convert the amount as an advance to him which will be deducted from the salary or entitlement.

But the report further indicated that the recommendation had been partially implemented as Dr. Adjase who has been cleared of wrongdoing was reposted to the head office of the Health Ministry.

In his defense, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee James Avedzie said Dr. Adjase may not have been informed that he will not be paid while he was under investigations.

He argued that Dr Adjase would have felt entitled to his salary despite staying away from work if it was not communicated to him.

“Mr. Chairman under normal circumstances…when you are being asked to step aside, nobody will tell you that you will not be paid”, Deputy Health Minister, Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu, told the Committee.