SARPONG'S BLOG

Policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, has observed that because the Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD) wants to avoid the overbearing powers of Ministers of state and heads of Departments and Agencies, it has not been able to police its mandate.

It said due to this lackadaisical attitude, the CAGD has not been up and doing in removing ghost names from the public payroll, a situation it argued, was having serious repercussions on the country’s wage bill.

According to IMANI, it was about time the CAGD woke up from its slumber and stood firm to enforce its mandate. This, the policy think tank believes, would help empower the CAGD to block all fictitious payments, so as to regain confidence in the public payroll administration.

“The CAGD must be able to enforce its mandate in making sure that it is empowered to block all fictitious payments. It is apparent that the CAGD is weak in this regard, probably because it wants to avoid clashes with Ministers, Departmental…

Communications Minister Edward Omane Boamah has set a 2016 target to eliminate the incidence of SIMbox fraud, which is estimated to cost the country in excess of US$70million annually in non-paid taxes.

Mr. Omane Boamah is banking government hopes on the yet-to-be established Interconnect Clearing House to stem the prevalence of a crime that telcos blame for the loss of more than 40 percent of call traffic from the US.

The minister, speaking at a news conference following the arrest of some SIM box operators, said ICH will become fully operational by middle of the year and is capable of rejecting or blocking calls emanating from improperly registered SIM-cards, which fraudsters rely on for their illegal deeds.

SIMbox fraud is a complex fraud system that makes a call from overseas appear on the phone screen as a local call. This is because the fraudsters channel the calls from abroad through unapproved routes by terminating them on SIMboxes fitted with local SIM-cards he…