Imani Smacks Single Spine

The much-touted and public sector operational Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) came under a rare attack when the Executive Director of the Imani policy think-tank, Franklin Cudjoe yesterday described it as misdirecting the economy and whose fundamental logic, he added, is crooked.

He was speaking during the latest in the Freedom Lecture series organized by the Centre for Freedom and Accuracy (CFA) at the Coconut Groove Hotel, Accra, under the theme “Assessing Ghana’s Democracy: What’s Right, What’s Wrong and the Future.”

Although enjoying a relative peace on the labour front, he presaged a troubled future for the scheme. “The single spine salary scheme may appear to be enjoying relative peace on the labour front for now but for how long?” he asked in mockery at the system.

Considering it as an answer to successive government’s desire to quadruple salaries of workers, he said it has served as a drawback to strengthening innovation in the private sector.

“Incidentally with successive Government’s attempt to quadruple salaries of public sector workers through the single spine salary scheme, there has been a drawback to strengthening the private sector as innovator talent is lost to the largely unproductive public sector,” he said.

Appearing like a bonanza for workers the new arrangement would one day haunt the country.

“That salary structure although looking like a bonanza, may come back to haunt us even now and in the future,” he said.

Recalling the history of the SSS as a New Patriotic Party (NPP) innovation and implemented by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), he surmised that the latter saw in it a side-step to what he described as the reform mess of the structural adjustment days in the country’s economic history adding “it is a diversionary tactic.”

Continuing to lash at the SSS, he regarded it is as “a mishmash of incoherent reforms pretending to be serious government business.”

Touching on education, the Imani chief bemoaned what in his opinion was the derailing of education in the country by politicians.

“We have sat by and watched Politicians and the willing participation of the Ghana Education Service in particular help in derailing our educational efforts,” recalling also the poor management of the computerized school selection last year and placement fiasco.

His question about how many of the people were aware that next year there would be two streams of SHS graduates—one from the Kufour-era; four-year-SHS and the one under the current three years by the NDC—explained the confused state of senior high school level education in the country.

He posted a grim picture about pension management in the country when he said that three years into the approval of new schemes by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority, these have remained dormant adding “a crisis may be looming.”

Apart from the immediate licensing of Pension schemes, he said “there should be an immediate audit into the operations of the NPRA vis-à-vis how contributions made since January 2010 have been handled: “I say this with the full backing of my father whose pension was badly manhandled.”

The CFA lectures have been graced by important personalities from various facets of society. DAILY GUIDE learnt that former President Rawlings was billed to be the next speaker and he would deal with his pet subject; Corruption in Ghana.