By Grace Zigah
A growing payroll controversy is shaking the health sector as hundreds of nurses and midwives accuse state authorities of quietly deleting their validated salary arrears from official payment records without making any payments, raising serious questions about transparency, accountability, and payroll governance in the public service.
The allegations were formally raised by the Coalition of Unpaid Nurses and Midwives Ghana, which described the development as “deeply troubling” and demanded urgent explanations from government agencies responsible for payroll administration.
According to a statement issued by the Coalition on Thursday, February 26, 2026, affected nurses and midwives had, for several months, seen their outstanding salary arrears consistently reflected as validated in the government payroll system and on their official Payment Vouchers.
Despite this validation, however, no actual payments were made to them.
The situation took a dramatic turn in February 2026, when the Coalition says the accumulated arrears suddenly disappeared completely from the Payment Vouchers of affected workers.
“Upon the most recent validation for February 2026, these accumulated arrears have suddenly and completely disappeared from our Payment Vouchers,” the group stated, describing the development as unprecedented and alarming.
The Coalition further disclosed that when the issue entered the public domain, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department swiftly denied the claims.
However, the health workers insist that the denial contradicts evidence within the payroll system itself.
They revealed that Payroll Validators and Human Resource Officers across multiple health facilities have independently confirmed that the arrears were indeed removed from the vouchers of affected staff — without any corresponding payments being made.
“Our questions are simple and direct,” the Coalition said. “Who authorised the removal of our legitimately earned arrears, and on what legal or administrative basis were these arrears cleared?”
For many nurses and midwives, the issue goes beyond delayed payments and has become a matter of trust in state institutions.
The Coalition described the development as unjust and dishonest, arguing that it reinforces long-standing concerns about lack of transparency and fairness in the handling of public sector salaries.
Background checks within the health sector show that disputes over arrears, delayed postings, unpaid allowances, and payroll anomalies have been a recurring challenge for nurses and midwives over the years.
Many frontline health workers have had to endure months — and in some cases years — of waiting for backdated salaries and allowances, often relying on informal support systems to survive.
This latest development, however, marks a new level of concern: the disappearance of validated arrears from official records, which workers say amounts to an administrative erasure of their legally earned income.
“Nurses and midwives who have worked tirelessly for this country cannot and will not accept a situation where their hard-earned income is quietly wiped away from official records,” the statement stressed.
The Coalition has now issued a clear demand to government: an immediate investigation into the payroll anomaly, full restoration of all unlawfully removed arrears, and prompt payment of all outstanding amounts to affected nurses and midwives.
The group also warned that failure to resolve the matter could trigger further action, signalling the possibility of organized resistance if the situation is not addressed urgently.
