For half of this year [2013] alone, the government spent G.H. 4.3 Billion representing 70.1 percent of total national revenue on wages and salaries.
The minister for finance and economic planning, Mr. Seth Terpker, disclosed this at a public forum on challenges facing the present government in Accra recently. The president Mr. John Dramani Mahamah, was present at the forum.
It was learnt that with the country?s huge debt owing its investment and development partners, it uses twenty [20] percent of its budgetary outlay to service its debts as interest due.
These worrying figures might have informed the president?s decision on ten [10] percent pay cuts on all wages and salary workers across board which is drawing blood from the already striking workers who have swore never to comply with the president?s directive.
The question everyone seems to be asking the president to come out and explain is whether he took that decision to cut ten percent of workers wages and salaries because he is too paying too much.
Or the national kitty is almost empty due to certain corrupt practices of unpatriotic goons and gangs occupying higher places that have led to the state losing all its fiscal power therefore squeezing the ordinary worker from every pesewa to fill the kitty.
I do no think so because all over the country, teachers, pharmacists, doctors, nurses, contractors, journalists and even traders are complaining of poor wages and salaries and have been staging demonstrations and strikes to press for increases in their wages and salaries.
Maybe yes the president has been paying more than necessary as he is suppose to pay and excess money going into wrong pockets worsening the economic situation of the country and therefore has to use that austerity measures to save the situation.
Whichever side holds the answer, is ideal to sit down with aggrieve workers and hear their argument as well as collect their opinions on how certain corrupt practices going on in their departments and agencies could be stopped to better solve the fiscal problems in general.
The finance minister has come out with that worrying news that 70.1 percent of the total national revenue goes into paying wages and salaries of workers in the country which is very bad.
Because 20 percent goes into servicing debts as interest due leaving close to 10 percent for national development and you wonder what exactly can government initiate for the people.
Mr. President, please task the auditor general to conduct auditing into state departments and agencies as well as high ranking positions to find out whether sky scraping wages and salaries are being paid to enrich certain people which is draining the national kitty.
A case study is how an under cover journalists helped to uncover high rate? fraud and corruption at Ontario Power Generation [OPG] where executives of the department that generates about 60 percent of Canada?s hydro were paying themselves huge salaries.
The Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, lunched investigation into the allegations and came out with a report of four hundred and forty four [444] page document of findings into the allegations.
The auditor general found OPG, employees making 50,000 dollars a year in overtime alone which was doubled to 520 from 260 in the past decade. It further found out that an employee transferring offices received 392,000 dollars in moving allowances alone after selling his old house for 354,000 dollars and buying a new house for 1.35 million dollars.
Such startling revelation has been described as unacceptable since Ontarians deserve better than such fraudulent and corrupt practices said by the angry premier Kathleen Wynne who has already given those chief executive officers of OPG the axe.
Mr. President, you see where the money was going? Yes it was going into individual pockets making the ordinary people to suffer by paying huge hydro electric bills that made the government looks bad eh?
Mr. President, you will be surprised to find out in similar auditor general?s report after investigations have been conducted that such fraudulent practices are going on in certain government agencies and departments which is making you pay more money than generating revenue.
Let us find out if you are paying too much money through fraud and corrupt practices than generating revenue and stop it before government shuts down because of no more in the national purse.
End.
