Prof Francisca Edua-Buandoh
Pressure has begun to mount on President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo as to whether the recommendations by the Presidential Committee on Emoluments chaired by Prof Francisca Edua-Buandoh that Article 71 officer holders would have to be offered 10% pay rise would be implemented by him after his inauguration.
Individuals and pressure groups have started vigorous campaigns calling for the reversal of the recommendations.
One of such groups is the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), which has called on Nana Akufo-Addo to stop the 10% monthly salary increment when he assumes office, saying it is “too high.”
The expected 10% rise is to take retrospective effect from 2013 after President John Mahama had also announced in the same year that he and his ministers and deputy ministers were to cut their salaries by 10% to help finance the construction of Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds across the country to reduce maternal mortality in the rural areas.
The Committee’s recommendations were based on the guiding principles of fairness, equity, motivation and ability of government to pay.
The new salaries of the office holders are as follows: President- GH¢22,809; Vice President – GH¢20,529; Chief Justice – GH¢17,107; Speaker of Parliament – GH¢17,791; Cabinet Minister (MP) – GH¢16,423; Cabinet Minster (non-MP) – GH¢16,195; Minister of State (MP) – GH¢15,967; Minister of State (non-MP) – GH¢15,739; Regional Minister (MP) – GH¢15,967.
The rest are Regional Minister (Non-MP) – GH¢15,511; Deputy Minster (MP) – GH¢14,826; Deputy Regional Minister (MP) – GH¢14,598; Deputy Minister (non-MP) – GH¢14,369; Dep. Regional Minster (non-MP) – GH¢142,142; Chairman, Council of State – GH¢14,826 and Member, Council of State – GH¢13,685.
ASEPA, in a statement signed by the Executive Secretary, Mensah Thompson, said the pay rise was made “based on the irregular emoluments structure that existed.”
It indicated, “Based on the reasons given for an upward review, and several other benefits accrued to these state officials, 10% is preferably too high.”
The group explained that already the structure of the economy does not allow for extra incomes, stressing that the fiscal space is not open enough and so almost half of annual revenue goes into servicing emoluments of public workers and state officials.
“This is a wrong path. Article 71 office holders can do without a pay rise for 10-15 years. And any extra income for these office holders means no job for a young graduate, who cannot survive without an income. There are several other challenges in the economy and the standard of living among a lot of the public needs an upgrade,” the group said.
The group therefore, appealed to the next government to set up another committee to review the Prof Dora Adu-Buandoh committee’s recommendations downwards.
“The current government should also avoid backdating the implementation of the report to 2013. Our priorities as a country need to be set right; either we want to develop or satisfy a few full-bellies to the detriment of the masses,” the group cautioned.
The Founding President of the think-tank, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, has recommended that salaries of high to middle-level public officials should be pegged to the country’s economic performance.
Franklin Cudjoe believes this will prevent regular salary increments of public office holders captured in Article 71 of the Constitution without recourse to the country’s economic challenges.
These increments come at a time when the country’s public wage, which stands at over GH¢10 billion as at March this year, is breaking the coffers.
Franklin Cudjoe said that the salary of some of the Article 71 office holders under the recent proposal is three times the per capita income of every Ghanaian – some GH¢5,060 – a situation he finds troubling.
But that is not Mr Cudjoe’s only problem with the new emoluments of the elite public office holders.
“This practice of backdating salaries doesn’t make sense at all,” he said, adding, “The whole enterprise of salary negotiations should be looked at from an economic point of view,” he told Joy News yesterday.
He also recommended proper consolidation of salaries in the public sector to prevent some chief executives from milking the country dry through sitting allowances that sometimes exceed, many times, their salaries.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr