Mr. Kweku Agyeman-Manu, a former deputy Finance Minister says the
governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) rushed in implementing the
single spine pay policy which is currently taking as huge as 70 percent
of government revenue.
According to Mr. Agyeman-Manu, the decision to implement Single Spine
Salary Structure (SSSS) was initiated by the New Patriotic
Party administration. He said the decision to implement the SSSS was
ill-advised, adding that, the current administration lacked ideas in
reversing the negative impact the policy is having on the economy.
The Member of
Parliament for Dormaa West in the Bono Ahafo Region, also denied the
claim that the pay policy was endorsed in 2009 by then President Agyekum
Kufour shortly before exiting office.
According to the Chairman for the Public Accounts Committee of
Parliament, President Kufuor rather endorsed a 34 percent increment in
salaries and not the SSSS since work on the latter was incomplete at the
time Mr. Kufuor exited office.
He was reacting to the assertion by the Finance Minister, Seth
Terkper on Wendesday, during the meet the press series to the effect
that, the poor state of the country's economy is as a result of huge
wages and salaries which needed to be paid.
Mr. Terkper said the economy of Ghana is still facing liquidity
challenges, with both revenue receipts and expenditure falling below
their targets, nine months into the year. The only exception is
compensation for workers, which has overshot its target by 2.2 per cent,
Mr Terkper said.
Mr Terkper said total revenue and grants for the period amounted to
GH¢11.90 billion, as against a target of GH¢14.15 billion. Although the
figure was a shortfall of the target, he said it was 13 per cent higher
than what was recorded for the same period last year.
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