Ghana must stop pampering State officials - Adei

A former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Professional Administration (GIMPA), Professor Stephen Adei has proposed that apart from the President, the Vice President and the Speaker of Parliament, all other public servants must not be accommodated by the State.

His comments come after it emerged that the CHRAJ boss, Ms Lauretta Vivian Lamptey was paying the Cedi equivalent of 456.25 dollars per day at a hotel while over US$203,500 has been spent on renovating her official residence.

Speaking to Starr News, Professor Adei said the idea of the Single Spine Salary Structure was for officials to take care of their own accommodation and other things provided by the State.

According to him, Ghana must shun the practice he described as a “colonial legacy”.

“That is what Single Spine salary is all about, a single spine salary means you are paid a consolidated salary, and you take care of yourself. What we have here is just a colonial legacy,” Prof. Adei said Thursday.

He added: “If a minister requires to be paid 15,000 just pay him. At this moment, you say you have paid him 8,000 but you spend about 5,000 on a four wheel drive, 3,000 on an accommodation, in the end you spend about 25-30,000 per minister a month.

“I think we must rationalise our salaries, and it is not a matter of feasibility, it is the government’s principle by introducing the single spine salary."

Prof. Adei also admonished the President to be tough and stop pampering State officials.

“The President, Vice President and the Speaker are certain honourable positions but everybody else – when you go to America, even Namibia they don’t pamper [State] officials.”