Head of Communications for the New Patriotic Party Nana Akomea is accusing President John Mills of public deceit on the controversial and botched implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS). The president on a Greater Accra Regional tour had blamed ex-president Kufuor and his erstwhile government for only announcing the SSSS policy without putting any implementation strategy in place. He described the SSSS as a “trap” plotted to crumble his government, but in the interest of the public and civil servants his government has kept faith with the SSSS and has vowed to implement it, the challenges notwithstanding. He made the comments in the wake of a nationwide strike doctors had embarked on to protest stalled negotiation and migration onto the SSSS. He appealed to the doctors to return to work and save human lives as government worked tirelessly to resolve the impasse with the Fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC). Two days after his appeal, the doctors stepped-up their strike, announcing they would not accept emergency cases anymore at the public hospitals nationwide until their grievances have been resolved by the Fair Wages and Salary Commission. Whilst patients felt the pain of empty surgical wards and ‘ghost’ OPDs at the various public health centres, public sentiments, anger, have been divided. Some have blamed the doctors for being heartless, lawless, others blamed the Fair Wages Commission and government for poorly handling the negotiation. On Saturday, panelists on Joy FM and MultiTV news analysis programme News File were divided on the matter. Nana Akomea took a swipe at the President for suggesting that the NPP left nothing for the implementation of the SSSS. He described the comment as an obvious untruth which should not be entertained. According to him, the NPP did not only announce the SSSS but put in place comprehensive implementation strategy before leaving office in 2009. He explained, in 2006 the government with Public Sector Minister Paa Kwesi Nduom contracted a consultant, Cohen, who after two years of consultation with stakeholders presented a comprehensive policy to government for implementation. Akomea stated the NPP after receiving the policy from the consultant, instituted a Commission to see to a successful implementation of the SSSS. The Commission had worked for four months prior to the NPP losing power to the NDC, he narrated. According to him, President Mills did not only refuse to go by the implementation strategy laid out by the NPP, but decided to put the NDC’s own imprint on the new policy. He said all the Commission members were replaced by the President as part of government’s own strategy. He wondered how after two years, the same government would return to blame the NPP for a botched implementation of the SSSS in the health sector.