The Controller and Accountant‑General’s Department (CAGD) has suspended the January 2026 salaries of 2,563 government employees for failing to participate in a mandatory nationwide headcount exercise conducted in 2025, officials confirmed. 
In a statement issued on January 30, 2026, the CAGD said that while the majority of workers on the national payroll received their January salaries on time, payments for the affected personnel were withheld following a recommendation from the Auditor‑General due to non‑compliance with the verification exercise. 
The headcount was carried out in 2025 across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) by the Ghana Audit Service as part of broader efforts to cleanse the public sector payroll, eliminate irregularities and “ghost names” names of people who are on the payroll but cannot be verified as real, active employees and ensure greater transparency and accountability in public financial management. 
According to the CAGD, the exercise required all civil servants to physically present themselves at designated verification points so that auditors could confirm their employment status.
Those who did not participate in the exercise are now being asked to contact the Ghana Audit Service immediately to complete the necessary clearance and verification. Only after this process can their salaries be reinstated. 
The CAGD reiterated its commitment to upholding public financial management laws and stressed that the action aligns with ongoing reforms to protect taxpayer funds and ensure that only legitimate employees are paid from the national payroll. 
This latest salary suspension follows earlier findings from government audits that identified thousands of names on the public payroll that could not be verified or located, highlighting long‑standing challenges in payroll integrity that the headcount exercise seeks to address.