Sunday,
January 4, 2015
Folks, the Controller and
Accountant-General's Department is warning workers that if they don't update
information on their employment status by a deadline to be given, their
salaries will be withheld. According to the Department, the directive is in response
to the problem being caused by the huge wage bill that is weighing heavily on
the government's management of public funds.
Once again, a directive has been
given, aimed at the wrong target. Workers don't employ themselves nor do they
impose themselves on institutions in the public sector. They are employed after
going through laid-down procedures, meaning that records on their employment
status should be available and that anybody not in active service should be
known. That is if the proper steps are being taken by the management of the
various institutions.
The payment of wages/salaries to
ghost workers can't be traced to the so-called "ghost workers" but
those managing affairs in the various institutions. Withholding workers'
salaries will spell more doom. Once again, a misplaced priority in-the-offing
to embarrass the government!!
For those of you who haven't been
to MyJoyOnline's Web site to read the news report, here is the link for you to
follow: http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2015/January-4th/no-ssnit-no-pay-accountant-generals-dept-to-public-workers.php#sthash.hJp0wGf0.dpuf).
Let us be honest upfront to
commend the SSNIT Management for attempting to be "proactive" in this
effort to streamline employment status and validate the social security regime
so that those who genuinely contribute to the Trust can be properly identified
and rewarded at the end of their service. I appreciate this initiative and
welcome it, even if I have some qualms about the nitty-gritty regarding what
has been going to date and why I consider this directive as skewed.
Every country that seeks the
welfare of its workers ensures that the post-office (retirement) situation for
those workers is assured through stringent and beneficial social security
arrangements. Workers in active service have a future to look to in retirement,
which is why social security is imperative.
In sacrificing their lot, the
workers have the hope that part of their earnings being slashed off on pay-day
will be conserved in the Social Security Trust (Fund) for them to reap the
fruit when they retire. It means that they are securing their future with such
contributions, which is why they must be the first to defend whatever they
contribute periodically. That is why the role of the leadership of the Trades
Union Congress (TUC) in securing the future of workers is important; and that
is why one expects the TUC to liaise with the authorities on that score so
proper management is done and workers' contributions saved and not run down the
drainage under any guise. Are the TUC leaders really doing so or simply
politicizing issues and pitting themselves against the party in power that they
don't like (which invariably will detract from their own worth as workers'
leaders)?
I consider the directive as
inadequate for other reasons. The onus of validating employment status doesn't
lie—and shouldn't be pushed onto—workers unless enough paper work is available
to help the workers update information on their status. Those in charge of the
public sector (the various institutions supported by the Consolidated Fund)
should be responsible for this exercise.
In other words, the workers
didn't employ themselves. They went through the hoop to be what they are and
those responsible for recruiting them should be the first to help identify who
is genuinely in service and must be retained or disposed of. What I am saying
is that Management should play the frontline role.
Withholding workers' wage/salary
as threatened won't solve the problem; it will worsen it. Those in charge of
"paperwork" may themselves be perpetrators of this "ghost names"
problem and will quickly outsmart the authorities by frustrating this updating
of information exercise so workers not paid would see the government as the
cause of their woes. The matter could easily assume a different complexion and
be politicized to the government's disadvantage.
On a broader scale, though, there
should be a serious effort to monitor how this "head-count" thing is
done, apparently because the problem of "ghost names" cannot be said
to be limited to the specific workplaces alone. The Controller and
Accountant-General's Department is itself complicit in the stealing of public
funds through payment of salaries and wages to ghost workers. Over the years,
syndicates operating therein have been exposed. What is in place for the
Controller and Accountant-General's Department itself to rid itself of ghost
names and to stamp out those perpetrating the payment of salaries and wages to
g host workers elsewhere in the public sector?
Government's persistent cry over
huge wage bills through such fraudulent payments should be stopped now and
action taken to rigidly enforce measures. For far too long, our various
governments have done politics with this issue of ghost workers without doing
anything concrete to solve the problem. Is it because even within government
circles there are some criminal elements connected to this ghost payment
syndrome? I won't rule it out, knowing very well how unconscionable some
walking the corridors of power can be in their search for financial gains from
the system.
I want the Controller and
Accountant-General's Department to know that it cannot succeed in ridding the
system of crooks cashing in on this ghost worker syndrome without any blueprint
to be fashioned out with the government. From the news report, I see this
Department as trying to go it alone, which will make its move a non-starter.
The government must be
responsible for anything involving social security. That is why it is important
for a national identification mechanism so every Ghanaian will have a specific
unchangeable social security number for life!!!
The management of SSNIT itself
should be poked in the ribs so it does the right thing instead of scheming and
putting in place strategies to live fat on workers' contributions. Let someone
take a good look at the conditions of service for those people. Why should they
enjoy the fruit of what they haven't sown while the sowers themselves languish
in excruciating poverty? Only in a sick country!!
In the United States, for
example, everything revolves around "social security number". No one
without it can do anything within the public sector, especially where funds are
involved. If you doubt it, find out from many why they do all they can to weave
their way through so they can be recognized on the basis of “social security
number”.
In our part of the world, we have
become so satisfied with our conditions of wretchedness and mediocrity that we
only take a keen delight in complaining about problems and not doing anything
to solve them. Countries don't develop this way.
I want to encourage the
authorities to work together so this social security issue can be tackled to
prove to workers that their contributions will be stored and invested to yield
profits for their good when they retire. Otherwise, all this noise from the
Controller and Accountant-General's Department will remain what it is—an
irritating noise!!
Why are public officials so lazy?
Who is in charge of what? I strongly suspect that some in positions of trust as
far as the disbursement of public funds is concerned are themselves in
collusion with the miscreants manipulating the system and paying ghost workers.
Let the Accountant-General's Department set the pace.
If it cannot, then, let the
government engage the services of qualified technocrats to create a data base
for public sector workers to be managed efficiently as a way of weeding out
ghost names.
Parliament has step in to enact a
law on social security numbers for the entire country and the law enforcement
agencies empowered to enforce such laws. Those who attempt to manipulate the
system must be quickly identified and punished. I am more than convinced that
if a proper database system is created to oversee efforts, no one can
manipulate the system to give us hiccups. The institutions of state must join
hands to solve this problem. How can ghost workers exist in such institutions
if no one in authority there creates room for them?
Finally, there must be some
serious regulatory measures on employment into the public sector. The
irresistible urge to employ people into the public sector (in our time, mostly
because of political connections or other considerations bordering on frivolity—relatives
of girlfriends, “old boyism”, political activism, “errand boyism” must be
curbed. We recall Rawlings’ retrenchment and redeployment exercises and wonder
why the governments after Rawlings won’t take any cue from what forced him to
go that way. There is too much rot in our public sector when it comes to
employment, which explains why there is so much for the government to worry
about in terms of the huge wage bill. Unarguably, we aren’t getting value for
our money as far as the public sector employment situation is concerned. That
is why the government is crying itself hoarse. Infinitesimal productivity, zero
dividends. More woes for Ghana!!
The government must demonstrate
more commitment than it has done so far if it wants to solve the problems that
payment of high wage bills continue to cause. In this age of the Internet and
advanced data storage mechanisms, why should it be difficult to create a
genuine data base of public sector workers so that only those in service will
be paid?
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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