Over 29,000 ‘ghost names’ on governmemt’s pay roll

Over 29,000 employees on Ghana’s payroll cannot be accounted for, Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has stated.

This follows a biometric registration process of all pensioners and public sector employees in at least five regions of the country.

This was revealed by the Finance Minister in his presentation of the 2012 budget statement under the theme: “Infrastructure development and accelerated growth and job creation.”

The revelation comes at a time when public sector wage bill has shot up under the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure.

The minister reiterated government’s commitment to implement fully the Single Spine policy and address the distortions in public wages despite its huge toll on the consolidated fund.

To correlate salaries with productivity, the minister stated government will in the 2012 financial year conduct a public sector productivity survey that will promote and manage public sector salaries.

Dr. Duffour chided the New Patriotic Party for saddling the NDC government with huge arrears to contractors, saying “through diligence and proper planning” substantial part of the debt has been paid.

According to him, a total of GHS3.1 billion has been paid to contractors with an amount of GHS1.1 billion left to pay.

He said the government will in the coming year invest heavily in infrastructural development across the country.

For Ghana to meet its gaping infrastructural deficit, the Minister said a total of $1.6 billion per year will be needed.

He said the country would rely heavily on donor support –loans and grants- to complement the limited internally generated revenue to be used in infrastructural development.

The minister touted government’s achievement in maintaining a stable macro-economic stability which he said has been unprecedented.

He stated the NDC government’s commitment to remove schools under trees is on course and would be fulfilled; assuring that the general standards of living of Ghanaians will be improved greatly.