A management consultant has questioned the 8,050 monthly salary paid the boss of Ghana News Agency (GNA), saying "it would lead to distortion in public pay structure." According to Nana Ato Conduah, GNA is public institution whose salary is not fixed in isolation but in accordance with other comparable institutions adding, if the Auditor General pays the said amount heads in similar institutions will clamour for the same amount. “GNA is a subvented public institution, the salaries set for CEO’s of comparable institutions will be looked at from a certain grade point, if allowed to go without query by the Auditor General, it will trigger all the grades including heads of Graphic, Times and the Ghana Broadcasting Casting” Documents gathered by Joy news indicate the monthly salary of the GNA boss as stated in the employment contract is GH¢3500 in addition to six separate allowances, amounting to GH¢4550 and equal to 138 per cent of his basic salary. This brings the total monthly emoluments delivered into his account to GH¢8050. Even though the salary has been approved by the National Media Commission (NMC), the appointing authority of the GNA boss, the Auditor General, has placed an embargo on the salary saying it cannot pay the said amount. The Auditor General has therefore asked the NMC to present a copy of the employment contract to the President for approval before he will go ahead with the payment. Associating himself with the position taken by the Auditor General, Nana Ato Conduah maintained the Auditor General has a constitutional mandate to advise the president, adding it was within his remit to suspend payments until the anomaly is rectified. “If an Auditor General realising that a salary has been fixed which has the tendency of distorting the whole national salary system he has the right to draw the president’s attention” he noted. Ato Conduah cautioned, payment of such a salary will derail the new public sector pay reform to be implemented next year. Workers of GNA after Joy Fm’s revelation have expressed their displeasure over the exhorbitant salary of their boss when their conditions of service have been nothing to write home about. Nana Ato Conduah contends such a situation will only lead to low morale and productivity “If the CEO is put on the salary far and above his colleagues from the same institution it will lead to his isolation” he added Author: Nathan Gadugah