Civil Service Boss In Corrupt Deal ?

Following the announcement made last month by the head of Civil Service, Dr. Alex Glover Quartey, that a South African consultant had been contracted to review the universal salary structure of the Civil Service, Moses Asaga, a former deputy Finance minister, has accused him of having a cut in the deal with the consultant.

Mr. Asaga told The Chronicle in Accra that there is nothing new that would emerge from this new contract because it is the old policy which was developed by the Central Management Board and the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which the consultant was going to polish and go away with a huge sum. Mr. Asaga described the situation as a waste of resources.

The former minister explained that the previous administration implemented 90% of what was recommended by the Price Water House Coopers but there were a few distortions which constituted about 5% of the total package, and must be rectified.

Mr. Asaga, who is also Minority spokesman on Finance, further argued that awarding such a contract to a South African consultant cast a slur on the competence of Ghanaian experts and is also an indictment on those who understand incomes and prices in the country.

According to Mr.Asaga, the assertion by Dr. Quartey that he wanted the job done within a period of two weeks was a lame excuse, and wanted to know whether he had contracted any local consultant that could not meet such a deadline.

Even though Mr. Asaga told The Chronicle that there is nothing wrong with Ghana importing expertise from other African countries, he stressed that such contracts are justifiable only when there is deficiency.

"The fact that we want African integration does not mean that Ghana should import chocolate from Nigeria," he asserted.

He further explained that integration should complement comparative advantage but not to duplicate it for the benefit of the whole continent.

Asked why the former government could not implement the CAP30, he said both CAP30 and the pension scheme were exhaustively dealt with by Price Waterhouse Coopers and that certain categories of public and civil servants mainly in the security services were expected to benefit.

However an attempt to include those who have benefitted from CAP30 in the pension scheme, he said, was hindered by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) pension scheme, which needed a second look.

Civil servants in the country have been disappointed on promises by successive governments to alleviate poor conditions of service and pay them better wages and salaries.

Poor conditions of service have created the impression that the service is corrupt and inefficient.

Based upon these problems that have bedeviled the service, Dr. Quartey on his assumption of office as head of the Civil Service, promised that he would do everything possible to address the numerous problems.

However, how soon these problems would be rectified remains unknown to civil servants.

Earlier Dr. Quartey had declined to mention the name of the consultant when this paper interviewed him.