Kumasi, March 1, GNA – Mr. John Ampontuah Kumah, Deputy Minister for Finance, has described as untrue claims that the government may not be able to pay salaries of public workers in the coming months.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin said last week on the floor of Parliament that information available to him suggested that the government might not be able to pay public workers in the next three months if critical decisions were not taken.
However, Mr Kumah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ejisu, has refuted the claims in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi.
He said the government had been able to pay workers during the height of the covid-19 pandemic and would continue to honour its obligations to public workers.
“It is not true, even when the COVID-19 hit the country, and we were struggling as a country, we still managed to pay all public workers on time,” he said.
“In January this year, workers were paid on time, we are hopeful that February will also be paid on time, so the workers should not fear,” he assured.
According to him, the Speaker of Parliament made a genuine call to all MP’s that they must move Parliament beyond partisanship and support the government’s domestic revenue mobilization programmes, especially the e-levy.
“I think the Speaker made a very genuine call on all Members of Parliament to move Parliament beyond partisanship and support the government’s domestic revenue mobilization programmes, especially the e-levy so that we do not create very difficult financial constraints for the government,” he said.
The Deputy Minister was optimistic that the economic situation would not deteriorate to the point where the government would be unable to pay public workers.
GNA