Government announces more employment into public sector this year - Oppong Nkrumah

Government says it will this year begin more recruitment into the public sector as the country prepares to exit the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Ghana in 2015 signed a three-year Extended Credit Facility with the IMF which saw the latter providing the government with some 918 million dollars in eight tranches.

The much-criticised agreement that froze employment into the public sector except in critical areas was aimed at restoring the country’s debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability to foster a return to high growth and job creation.

It was also to protect social spending.

IMF boss Christine Lagarde in December last year said the country has been on track in meeting all the conditions of the programme which she said was set to end in April this year.

But the Information minister said the government is hopeful it will get financial clearance this year to engage a lot more in the public sector as it gears to exit the programme.

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on Tuesday said on TV3 morning magazine show New Day that the exit from the programme would pave the way for government to give financial clearance for the recruitment of more people into the public sector.

“This year …as we have exited the IMF programme we will get some more financial clearance to put people into places where there are opportunities,” he stated.

He noted the Nana Akufo-Addo government has spent the last two years in fixing the fundamentals of the economy bequeathed them by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and is ready to take off in full scale.

On the total number of jobs created in all sectors within the last two years, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said even though the government readily does not have the total number, the growth of the economy suggests that more jobs have been created.

“Admittedly, we do not have the numbers all put together, but the rule of the thumb is that, growth and expansion come with jobs”, he said, adding “Today the mechanism for giving you fine data on total jobs in the public sector and in the private sector is not available”.

He however explained that what the government has on record for the public sector is around 146,000 but that of the private sector and other jobs through government programmes is not exactly known.

“For instance, in the public sector that we control, about 145 or 146 thousand people given financial clearance in the raw public sector, this does not include state-owned enterprises, this does not include estimates of people who get jobs as a result of government programmes,” Mr. Oppong Nkrumah stated.

Notwithstanding, he said the Ministry of Food and Agriculture through its Planting for Food and Jobs programme in 2018 estimated about 745,000 people were employed under the programme.

The Minister said it is imperative for all to help the Ghana Revenue Authority raise more money by paying their taxes so the government can raise enough revenue to employ people who have been demanding for financial clearance to be employed into the public sector