By Francis Ameyibor
Tema, Oct. 6, GNA – Scores of workers in Tema have joined in calling for the enlargement of Article 71 Office Holders Salary and Emolument structure.
The workers have therefore joined the crusade “Don’t expunge but rather expand Article 71 Office Holders.”
A random interview by the Ghana News Agency indicated that the inclusion of public and civil servants in the Article 71 Office Holders salary and emolument structure would cure salary distortions and imbalances among government workers.
The workers, who are mostly public and civil servants, called on all worker associations and unions, including the Ghana Medical Association, the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG), and the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), to join the advocacy.
The Tema workers also called on the Communication Workers Union (CWU), Public Service Workers Union (PSWU), Ghana Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nurses and Midwifery Council, and Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) not to sit on the fence but to play a meaningful role in the move.
The Ghana Federation of Labour recently made a pronouncement to the government not to abolish the Article 71 Office Holders salary and emolument structure but rather enlarge its scope to cover both public and civil servants to resolve the distortions in the government pay roll system.
Mr. Abraham Koomson, General Secretary of the Federation, who made the call, noted that, “we should change the narratives about the abolition of Article 71 Office Holders; such a call is
retrogressive; let us enroll all public and civil servants in the scheme to enjoy the same benefits.”
Mr. Koomson, who had been on the labour front for over 40 years, noted in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema that “what is good for the goose must equally be good for the gander.”
In another interview, Dr. William Mensah-Ansah, an industrialist, told the GNA that “the call is long overdue to settle all government pay roll distortions and make the Ghanaian worker smile at the end of the month.”
Dr. Mensah-Ansah noted that political office holders have enjoyed the provisions stipulated in Article 71, while hard-working public workers take home a fraction of their salary with poor emoluments.
“It is time to change the salary distortions,” he stressed.
Madam Noami Mereku, a civil servant, lauded the recommendation and noted that labour unions must begin a relentless campaign backed by solid arguments to demand the inclusion of all government workers in the Article 71 Office Holders salary and emolument structure.
Madam Mereku noted that “we cannot have two or more classes of government workers with different salary structures. We must all eat from the same funds.”
Mr. Isaac Antwi, a Pharmacist Assistant at a public health facility, said government workers also deserve the best: “We work under strenuous conditions, but our take-home cannot even take us out of the bank”.
Other workers also expressed similar sentiments and called on all labour unions to work together towards the achievement of the noble advocacy “Don’t expunge, but rather expand Article 71 office holders’ structure.”
Article 71 office holders include the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice, and the Justices of the Supreme Court.
The rest are Members of Parliament (MPs), Ministers of State, political appointees, and public servants with salaries charged to the Consolidated Fund but enjoying special constitutional privileges.
Articles 71(1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution stipulate that the determination of the salaries and allowances of the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary paid from the Consolidated Fund would be determined by the President on the recommendations of a committee of not more than five persons appointed by him and acting upon the advice of the Council of State.
In determining the salaries of the President, his ministers, and political appointees, as well as the members of the Council of State, the Constitution states that Parliament will determine that based on the advice of the same committee.
GNA