Final 2025 Payroll Audit: GES Directs Regional Heads to Prepare Affected Staff.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed all Regional Directors to notify staff whose salaries were previously terminated during the 2025 nationwide payroll audit to prepare for a final verification exercise by the Ghana Audit Service.
In a letter dated March 12, 2026, and signed by the Acting Deputy Director-General for Management Services, Smile Dzisi, GES stated that the follow-up exercise forms part of ongoing efforts to clean up the public sector payroll.
The directive references a communication from the Ghana Audit Service dated March 5, 2026, which indicated that audit teams would conduct a final follow-up on all unaccounted staff whose salaries were terminated during the nationwide payroll audit.
According to the letter, the exercise began on March 9, 2026, and is taking place across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) as well as Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in all 16 regions of Ghana.
GES management has therefore instructed Regional Directors to inform affected personnel within their jurisdictions to prepare the necessary documentation and make themselves available for verification when officials from the Ghana Audit Service visit their institutions.
“The exercise will involve officers from the Ghana Audit Service visiting institutions to verify the employment status of staff whose salaries were terminated but remain unaccounted for,” the statement indicated.
Management emphasized that the directive should be treated as urgent to ensure smooth coordination of the verification process.
Copies of the communication were also sent to the Director-General of GES, the Acting Deputy Director-General for Quality and Access, the Director of Human Resource Management, the Chief Internal Auditor, the Acting Director of Finance, and the Head of the Payroll Unit at the GES headquarters in Accra.
The nationwide payroll audit forms part of government efforts to identify irregularities, eliminate ghost names, and ensure accountability in the public sector wage bill.
