The President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has criticised the approach taken in the conduct of the recent report alleging ‘ghost names.’
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Controller & Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) joint investigation covered the government’s payroll administration, focusing on employees in the Northern Region.
According to Rev. Isaac Owusu, the investigation was conducted without the knowledge of the Education Directorate nor the Education Ministry.
Rev Owusu told Joy FM’s Emefa Apawu that due process was not followed in reaching the conclusions in the report.
“This OSP issue was one of the cases we sent to the Labour Commission. And at the Labour Commission, the chief employer, which is the Director General of the Ghana Education Service and his sector Minister, Dr Yaw Adutwum, the commissioner asked them whether they were aware of the activity that the OSP was embarking on and they denied outright that they had no knowledge,” he said.
In a May 20 press release, the OSP pointed to a primary school in the Kumbungu District of the Ghana Education Service which was found to be entirely fictitious.
“It was discovered that a primary school in the Kumbungu District of Ghana Education Service did not exist at all. Yet, this non-existent contrived entity was represented as staffed and the purported staff were being validated monthly and being paid salaries,” the OSP said.
