I haven’t been paid for 11 months – Ghana Library boss

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Library Authority Hayford Siaw has revealed he has not received his salary for the last 11 months even though he has been working for the state.

He is however hopeful the salary will come in due course.

“I have not started receiving my salary yet. I have been working for about 11 months now but have not been paid yet. It is a process,” he told Morning Starr host Francis Abban Monday.

He noted a huge quantum of the budget for libraries in the country goes into salaries.

“The significant thing we have to think about now has to do with the staff who work at the libraries. Infrastructure needs to be looked at too. Can you believe the whole Ghana Library Authority does not have an Appreciation librarian?

“I have been to all the Regional Libraries and I think much more can be done. There are a lot of libraries set up by MPs , Districts Assemblies etc but most of them have collapsed. 95% of our budget goes into emolument and 5% goes into goods and services. Elsewhere, people have access to public libraries for free. The story is different here unfortunately,” he said.

Mr. Siaw also revealed he has plans to automate libraries across the country.

“We are in the final stages of automation. For the automation system, we do not have plans of spending more than GHC80,000. We have plans of improving connectivity in our libraries as well”.