The President of policy think tank IMANI, Franklin Cudjoe has described as worrying the disclosure by Information Minister Mustapha Hamid that all the 110 ministers appointed by President Akufo-Addo have not been paid since assumption of office.
Speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues, Mr. Hamid noted working without salary has been difficult for them and “it is not a very good phenomenon in our country that people get employed and after one year they are not taking salaries yet, and they happen to be teachers, nurses etc. “So, if it’s happening to politicians, we should say that: ‘Well it’s good that it’s happening to them so that they will feel the pinch and correct the anomaly for all of us citizens’.”
He thus called on the Controller and Accountant General to ensure that the repetitive phenomenon where it takes a while before people are paid is dealt with permanently.
Commenting on the development on a Facebook post Mr. Cudjoe said “these appointees need to eat and feed their dependants” stressing “It is not enough to say they are getting by through the grace of God and friends.”
“Is it that we don’t have the money? Even if as we are now reportedly hearing a revenue gap of almost GHS1.3bn for the quarter, we shouldn’t encourage public servants to work without being paid.
“I worry when politicians work for free. We will have to assess the reasons for the disturbing revenue performance vis-à-vis the overall revenue maximisation strategy of the government and offer helpful solutions,” he added.
