The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has criticised Northern Star Community School for how it handled a payroll issue involving a sick staff member, describing the school’s actions as insensitive.
The issue was revealed in a report by the Auditor-General, which found that the school paid GH₵5,056.47 in salary to the staff member without work being done.
School officials told the Committee that the administrative clerk had been irregular at work before he stopped coming completely.
They said the staff member did not officially inform the school in writing about his illness, and this influenced their decision to remove him from the payroll, which later raised audit concerns.
The headmaster, Said A. Farouk, explained that the school has recovered GH₵1,400 so far, leaving a balance of GH₵3,665.47. He added that they are still trying to collect the rest from the staff member’s family.
However, the Chairperson of the Committee, Abena Osei Asare, disagreed with how the school handled the situation. She criticised the decision to remove the sick staff member from the payroll after he stopped coming to work.
She said the school should have taken steps to properly document the staff member’s illness.
“Couldn’t the school have written knowing very well that the person is unwell and taken those steps on behalf of the person? Because there are people who are sick and are not working but are still on payroll. The fact that you are sick does not mean you should be taken off payroll. Unless you are due for retirement,” she said.
She also directed the school to work again with auditors to properly resolve the issue, as concerns remain about accountability and how payroll is managed in public institutions.
