The Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) paid the salary of a deceased employee for 26 months, costing the state more than GHS1.44 million, according to findings presented to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The revelation came from the latest Auditor-General’s report, which flagged a number of financial irregularities at the hospital. Committee members expressed alarm during a hearing in Accra on Monday.

Appearing before the PAC, Dr Emmanuel Sena Kwasi Donkor, the hospital’s Director of Administration, confirmed that only GHS303,558 — around 21% of the total amount — has so far been recovered.

“We were able to recover some amounts,” Dr Donkor said. “Before we got here, we had received letters from some banks stating that they had stopped transferring the funds to the government chest.”

He called on Parliament to intervene and help retrieve the remaining funds from the banks involved.

Dr Donkor also revealed that a list of individuals connected to the case had been submitted to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), which has requested personnel files for further investigation.

Despite these assurances, committee members criticised the hospital’s internal systems, particularly its salary validation processes.

Samuel Atta-Mills, the committee’s Ranking Member, questioned how such an oversight could have gone unnoticed for so long.

“Habib Napare – date of separation was 2022. This guy had died,” Mr Atta-Mills said. “Didn’t you go to the funeral? And you validated this dead person for 26 months? And now you are coming to tell Parliament to do what?”

The Committee has called for greater accountability and warned that weak financial oversight within public institutions continues to undermine government efforts to protect public funds.

Source:TheDotNews