MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has revealed that the salaries of presidential staffers shot up from GH¢136.2m in 2020 to GH¢823.8m in 2021.

He attributed the increase to the creation of "amorphous positions" at the Office of Government Machinery.

In a post on Facebook, he claimed that, "It is significant to observe from the 2021 Budget Statement — the year most of these amorphous positions were created at the Office of Government Machinery, that their Wages and Salaries shot up astronomically to GH¢823.8million from just GH¢136.2million in 2020 (an increment by a staggering 508.4%).

"Compared with that of the entire Parliamentary Service (including non-parliamentarians), GH¢201.1million was budgeted in 2021 from GH¢140.4million in 2020 (representing an increase of 43.2%). Placed in perspective, the OGM salary increase by an additional GH¢687.6million in one year (508.4%) is more than the GH¢672million needed to pay NABCo workers for an entire year (see page 241 of 2021 Budget)," he said.

Mr. Ablakwa said this notwithstanding, NABCo workers remain unpaid for 7 months.