The Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has disclosed that a nationwide audit of government arrears has led to the disallowance of about GH¢13 billion in claims inherited from the previous NPP administration.
According to him, the audit—which was undertaken by the Audit Service in collaboration with top accounting firms on the instructions of the Ministry of Finance—uncovered several irregularities in some of the claims submitted under the former government.
“Government is dealing with the arrears. In fact, one of the things the Minister presented to Cabinet [Tuesday] was the audited arrears,” Mr. Nyarko Ampem stated during an interview on Citi FM.
He further explained that, “We commissioned the Audit Service and the accounting firms to audit the arrears stock that we inherited, and that work has been completed. About GH¢13 billion has been disallowed, and so that is some savings.”
The deputy minister revealed that the 2025 Budget makes provision for the clearance of GH¢13.7 billion out of the GH¢67 billion arrears left behind by the previous administration, adding that the remainder will be settled gradually over the next four years.
Mr. Nyarko Ampem clarified that the government has begun processing payments for claims that have been duly verified, stressing that no unverified debts will be honoured.
“We are strictly paying those who have been validated by the auditors,” he emphasised.
To promote accountability in the process, he added that the government will soon release the full list of claims that were rejected, approved, or remain under review.
“The agreement we had with the auditors is that we will publish all those that have been rejected,” he noted. “We will also publish those that are still pending, sometimes because the contractors have not been reached or the required documents are not available.”
Mr. Nyarko Ampem described the audit as a key part of the government’s fiscal cleanup and expenditure control efforts, designed to ensure that only genuine debts owed to contractors, public-sector employees, and compensation claimants are settled.
“Only verified debts will be settled,” he stressed, adding that the final report on the disallowed arrears will be made public once Cabinet concludes its review.
