Government workers overstaffed, not overpaid – UG Lecturer

Dr Louis Asiedu, a senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, under the Department of Statistics, has asserted that the government has over-employed a lot of personnel in public institutions.

According to him, the statement by Professor Samuel Kobina Annin, a government statistician indicating that public workers are overpaid appears to be an error.

In his view, the living conditions in the country prove otherwise with the erratic price increases in every commodity and service while salaries of workers have seen a satisfactory increase.

In an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, Mr Asiedu said, “I believe the statement from Professor Samuel Kobina Annin was a statement in error. The problem is not about the payment because we know the conditions we are currently facing.

There has been an erratic increase in almost every utility and series of taxes while the public workers while they were given just a 4% salary increment at the beginning of the year. So living conditions in Ghana is very hard and every worker both private and public sector can attest to that.”

“The actual problem is for the government to employ limited numbers. The government has over-employed a lot of people to do a simple job. So we see that a lot of people are there mostly redundant. So a job for one person, we see about 8-10 people employed and all are getting paid,” he added.

His reaction comes after the government statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim delivering his inaugural lecture at the University of Cape Coast said while earnings averaged about GH¢3,420 for the public sector worker, output in the sector averaged about GH¢1,420, less than half the earnings. He proposed that workers in the public sector are generally overpaid for work done.

He has, therefore, called for the creation of a Public Productivity Committee of Parliament to work like the Public Accounts Committee and ensure that ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and the public sector, in general, deliver output commensurate with their earnings.

“What people earn should be equal to their output and be equal to what they spend,” he said, adding that basically there was something wrong and that such gaps should be closed in the country’s quest for real development.

He observed that the tenure of public officers of such institutions and organisations should be renewed or revoked, based on the attainment of targets.

Meanwhile, Prof. Annim has rebutted his initial claims as he reiterated that workers should be made accountable for their output.