Public sector salaries increased to 7%
There must be a correlation between the increment and inflation
This will enhance productivity in the country
Ranking member on government’s Employment, Labour and Social Welfare Committee of Parliament, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has stated that the 7 percent increments in salaries for public sector workers should always be juxtaposed to the existing rate of inflation.
He intimated that this will ensure that public sector workers are able to afford the cost of commodities on the market.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM‘s Midday news on Wednesday, he said, “the minimum we can do, is to relate public sector salary adjustment to the rate of inflation. The Statistical Service has given us the annual rate of inflation which is in the double figures. And we have a salary adjustment that is in single digits.
Therefore, what it really means is that the purchasing power of the public sector worker has reduced. My ideal is to match the public sector salary adjustment to the rate of inflation. So that at least, in terms of real purchasing power, at least they stay the same. They suffer no deterioration,” Dr. Donkor said.
During the 6th Quadrennial National Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in Kumasi, on Tuesday, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah disclosed that owing to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, government has decided to cushion public sector workers, thus the adjustment.
“In the peak of the pandemic, we were able to safeguard the work of every public sector worker in Ghana including teachers, for which GNAT members were included. We had agreed that coming to this year, the four percent will no longer exist and that we are going to give workers a seven percent,” Mr. Awuah said.
The Member of Parliament for the Pru East Constituency and former Energy Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor in his reaction to this emphasised that, there must be a correlation between the rate of inflation and the rate of salary adjustment.
This he says will empower public sector workers to be more productive, thereby leading to enhanced development for the country.