An Economic Advisor to the President, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson has revealed that the Ghana Education Service(GES) currently employs about 40, 000 drivers.
According to him, majority of these drivers are redundant, but they have been added to the national payroll, thus increasing government’s expenditure.
Dr. Thompson stated that the number of people on Ghana’s payroll, is 11 percent higher than that of the UK.
He said the number of drivers employed by the GES is unsustainable.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson further stated that government is devising a plan to reduce the number of people on government’s payroll.
But in a rebuttal, the Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Charles Aheto Tsegah justified the number of drivers employed by the service saying it forms an “integral aspect of the Ministry’s operations.”
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Tsegah said the criticisms against the GES’ move were unfounded since the number of drivers accurately corresponds with vehicles within the service.
“GES is not a small organization; we are talking about an organization that spans the length, breadth, width and every part of the country”
“We are talking about 37,000 basic schools, we are talking about secondary schools, we are talking about administrative structures, we are talking about a number of institutions,”Mr. Tsegah said.
According to him, every single driver deployed by the GES plays an important role in the sector.
“If you have an institution of such a national magnitude you need drivers so you cannot just say that we have 40,000 drivers and want everybody to giggle about it. This is a serious matter”
“We are not just talking about equipment that are not essential. They are very important to the kind of resources we have to deliver to the nation” Mr. Tsegah added.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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