Caucus for Democratic Governance raises concerns over government appointees’ payroll

Think-tank Caucus for Democratic Governance has raised issues with the current payroll system for public servants.

The group is particularly concerned with public sector portfolios that are governed by article 71 of the 1992 constitution.

Article 71 (1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that the determination of the salaries and allowances of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary paid from the Consolidated Fund would be determined by the President, on the recommendations of a committee of not more than five persons appointed by him and acting upon the advice of the Council of State.

This system has resulted in allegations that some Members of Parliament who doubled as ministers in the erstwhile John Mahama government received double salaries.

The accused MPs are currently being investigated by the CID of the Ghana Police Service for stealing.

Addressing the media in Accra Tuesday, Ebenezer Kofi Hayford, the Chief Convener of CDG, claims there is a disconnect between the Parliamentary Service Board and the Controller and Accountant General Department, thus the need to cancel the system.

“The Controller and Accountants [General’s] Department has a structure which should be overhauled,” he suggested.

“There should be a paradigm shift in the mindset of the people and the system must be overhauled.”

He warned that if that system is not changed, the problem of double salary payment is going to persist.

“If it is not overhauled, the ministers who are also MPs are certainly going to get double salary – one from Parliament and the other from the Executive,” he warned.

CDG hit hard at government for being selective on the corruption that they pursued.

They listed among others the cash for seat, BOST contaminated fuel sale, premix fuel diversions and the alleged fake journalists in Australia as some of the cases that government has swept under the carpet.

The group questions why the CID would probe some former ministers for receiving double salary when the same system has existed since 1993.

“That system of payment started from 1993 and it is still working even in 2018. If you tackle 2013 to 2016, you give the impression to people who want to bring argument that you are doing that because you are against this one or you are against that one,” Mr. Hayford said.

“It must be complete in itself. You start from the beginning and come to the end and you have the sum total of what you want to do,” he added.

Prof. Clement Dzidonu, President of Accra Institute of Technology, has also been making similar calls for investigations into the allegations of double salaries to pre-date President John Kufour’s time.

The group is therefore calling for a single payroll system for all article 71 office holders.