The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) has set up payroll clinics in the 170 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in a bid to decentralise the payroll at the local level.

The CAGD has appointed payroll desk officers responsible for receiving and resolving complaints from employees and pensioners on daily basis.

They will also organize regular salary and pension clinics at different locations in their districts for employees and pensioners to help check and eliminate all irregularities in the Singe Spine Salary Structure.

Mr Raphael Kufuor, Controller and Accountant General, announced this in a speech on his behalf at a two-day educational forum on the management of the mechanised payroll system, in Sunyani on Monday.

The forum, attended by more than 2,000 public servants drawn from the MMDAs in the region, offered the participants the opportunity to seek clarification on issues relating to salaries and pensions.

Mr Tufour emphasised that the CAGD intends to partner the MMDAs to execute the programme and appealed to heads of the assemblies to assist in providing logistical support to the payroll clinics to enable them to function effectively.

He explained that the forum had become necessary as a result of complaints the department had received from employees concerning their salaries, saying “our observation is that most public servants do not know where to seek solutions if they have problems with respect to their salaries.

The Controller and Accountant General stated that this accounted for the delays in resolving the challenges associated with salaries.

“It is the responsibility of all heads of department to examine the payroll reports and give feedback to the CAGD to ensure, among others, that only staff belonging to the department are paid.

“The heads of department are expected to examine and ensure that in case of retirement, resignation, termination, vacation of post and death, names of employees are deleted immediately as well as ensure that any over-payment of salaries are recovered,” he said.