The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, has called on members of the Health Workers Group (HWG) to exercise restraint for the ministry to resolve discrepancies in the staff list submitted for payment of their salaries. According to him, while the ministry sympathised with the group, it was important that the discrepancies were resolved. Reacting to concerns of the group in an interview on Monday, Mr Baah- Wiredu acknowledged receipt of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) submitted by the Ministry of Health with regards to the new structure and the implementation date. He, however, said there were discrepancies in the number of staff list submitted for the payment as against what was budgeted for and therefore, appealed to the parties to exercise restraint "and co-operate with the ministry as the issues are expeditiously resolved". Mr Baah-Wiredu explained that while the government budgeted for 45,675 staff, the MoH submitted a staff list of 51,556 for payment. He explained that the revision of the Health Service Salary Structure was authorised on the advice that it would cost an extra ¢240 billion per annum. The minister, however, said the implementation of the revised structure based on the data submitted by the MoH would bring an extra ¢428 billion cost to the national budget. Mr Baah-Wiredu said the irregularities and the extra burden on the national budget was of much concern to the ministry. According to him, the MoH was asked to reconcile the figures budgeted for last year as against the new list submitted so that the payment would be effected. He expressed the hope that the new list would be submitted by Wednesday, September 12, 2007, to enable the ministry to give the clearance for the payment. "I want to assure them that whatever is due them would be paid. The challenge at the moment is an issue for those handling the data to do it fast," he said. Mr Baah-Wiredu stressed the need for officers handling staff lists to always give "the correct staff list to facilitate payment of salaries. He denied that the government had acted in bad faith in the implementation of the new salary structure for members of the group. Mr Baah-Wiredu noted that as a result of the revision, the salary levels of some health workers had also been varied to their disadvantage and said all those issues needed to be resolved. He explained that the government was guided by the financial administration laws of the country and would, therefore, not act contrary to it. Currently, he said, there were more than 600,000 workers on the government wage bill with the education and health sectors contributing the largest. The minister said a major constraint confronting the nation was the issue of revenue mobilisation. According to him, while the government could not over-tax the citizenry, there were many more people and organisations seeking tax exemptions. Mr Baah-Wiredu said under the circumstances, it became extremely difficult for the government to meet the demands of workers especially when it was not budgeted for. He said every demand made must, therefore, be in the context of the budget, and that should not appear as if the government was unwilling to meet the needs of workers. "Every sector is important and we appreciate the contribution of everybody in the development effort," he added. The Greater Accra Regional branch of the Health Workers Group, last Friday accused the government of acting in bad faith in the implementation of the new salary structure for members of the group. It said the government had deliberately not shown the maximum commitment to resolve the impasse and should, therefore, blame itself for any consequences. It therefore warned that any delay in the implementation of the MOU beyond this month, would not be tolerated. Last month, the Controller and Accountant General, Mr Christian T. Sottie, told the Daily Graphic that the country was overrunning its payroll budget for the year. He explained that the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) had as of June, this year, already spent about ¢11 trillion out of the ¢19 trillion budgeted for wages and salaries for the whole year. He indicated that a head count was likely to begin with the public health sector where the staff list had witnessed persistent increases within one year. In reaction, the Director of Human Resource of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Ken Sagoe, said he was in favour of the head count, provided the government would provide funds. Explaining a possible reason for the increase in the staff list, he said the problem began when instead of transferring the existing list from the old Integrated Personnel Payroll Database (IPPD 1) to the IPPD II, the staff were asked to compile a new list from the districts up to the head office. Source: Daily Graphic