The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission claims to have saved Ghana GH₵345 million through the first phase of a nationwide payroll monitoring effort.
The project, which included 120 public sector institutions across four regions, sought to lower the public sector pay bill and improve transparency in public sector employment.
The commission’s CEO, Benjamin Arthur, said on JoyNews’ The Pulse Show that careful monitoring measures resulted in a savings of GH₵345 million last year.
“Last year, we made a lot of savings—345 million cedis from the monitoring exercise,” claimed the minister.
Beyond financial savings, the CEO underlined the exercise’s importance in increasing productivity.
“However, it has other productivity-enhancing effects. “We go out to collect comprehensive information, monitor the field, and review payrolls,” he explained.
He went on: “About 8% of what we pay in the public sector can be saved, and when we started payroll monitoring, the analysis showed that for 2023 and 2024.”
Arthur also discussed critical takeaways from the monitoring process.
“Looking ahead, payroll tracking has taught us a lot. Of course, we also discovered some anomalies—some people eligible for allowances were not receiving them,” he remarked.