The Controller and Accountant- General’s Department is expected to commence the payment of all civil servants by a biometric E-zwich platform in 2015.
This follows an on-going pilot program to gradually ensure public sector workers are paid via the E-zwich payment system.
The roll out plan was initially to start with the finance department of the Controller and Accountant- General’s Department , then to all staff members in Accra.
But the department is currently closely monitoring how effective the payment of some 77,000 national service personnel would be , using the platform in the first two month of 2015.
The new payment system is expected to help rid the payroll of fraud at the point of payment or Ghost names.
After a rigorous process to remove ‘ghost names’ from government payroll, the public sector wage bill has reduced from 70% of government revenue to 57% in 2015.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPPS) Archie Hesse speaking to Citi Business News said , “controller indicated strongly that if national service is able to take off after two three months, what we would have proven is that we can go nationwide straight away”.
By: Rabiu Alhassan/citifmonline.com/Ghana
