The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has raised concern about the increasing rate of the payment of “unearned salaries and unserved bond terms” by staff of the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
The pervasiveness of the infraction, if left unchecked, according to PAC, would deny the country of much-needed funds for other key investments in the health sector.
It has therefore, called on the management of the GHS to strengthen approaches in the “validation of staff for salary payment and tighten policies” to ensure bonded-staff return to post after their study leave or refund all salaries paid them with interest.
Speaking in Accra yesterday, when the management of the Ghana Health Service appeared before PAC, Dr James Klutse Avedzi, Chairman of PAC, said the current trend of bonded-staff vacating their post after their study was worrying, hence the need for enhanced controls to compel the beneficiary staff to post or refund all salaries in addition to the required penalties to deter others from doing same.
The committee’s concerns was underpinned by several incidence of the payment of unearned salaries and unserved bond terms in the 2022 Auditor General’s Report at various health facilities.
For instance, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital was cited for the payment of unearned salary amounting to GH¢19,649.10 to two officers who separated from the Hospital in March 2021 and November 2021.
Also, two former staff of Juaben Government Hospital who were not at post between September 2019 and August 2022, were paid total unearned salaries of GH¢71,227.10.
Again, a staff of Ejisu Municipal Health Directorate who was granted one-year leave without pay from February 2019 vacated post after studies but was validated and paid unearned salaries amounting to GH¢66,223.04 between February 2019 and September 2021.
A staff of the Adabraka Polyclinic, who was granted two-year study leave with pay between September 2019 and September 2021, failed to return to serve the bond term upon completion of the course, resulting in unserved bond amount of GH¢70,933.04.
“We recommended that the Principal Medical Officer should recover the amount of GH¢70,933.04 with interest at the prevailing Bank of Ghana rate from Anita Adwoa Bentil or her guarantors and same paid into the Auditor-Generals Recoveries Account with Bank of Ghana, failing which the amount should be recovered from the Principal Medical Officer,” the report added.
Another staff of Bortianor Polyclinic who was granted three years study leave with pay from October 2018 to October 2021, assumed duty in November 2021 but served only one month (November 2021) resulting in an unserved bond value of GHC132,152.04.
Alarmed by the recurring nature of the infraction, Dr Avedzi was of the view that heads of the various health facilities, which records similar cases of unearned salary and unserved bond terms should be made to face some penalties.
However, responding to the queries, Director General of GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said the heads could not be blamed for the failure of staff who were granted their entitlement of study leave to return to posts.
That, notwithstanding, he noted that the service had recovered some of the unearned salaries and had engaged the guarantors and families of staff who vacated posts after their study leave for refund.
Additionally, he said the service had reviewed its staff validation process to include the validation of staff on the tenth day of every month to ascertain those either present or absent.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
