The Sole Commissioner of the Judgement Debt Commission, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, has blamed the country’s development woes on heads of public institutions and the elite in society.
He said the apathetic attitude and conduct of such people in positions of influence were endemic in all spheres of national life, “sinking the country – from achieving its development aspirations.”
According to him, Ghana’s current state could not be blamed on farmers and market women but rather on heads of public institutions who had failed to uplift the country.
“Bulk of the state money is spent to educate us and we are the very people who are not helping the country to develop,” Justice Apau stated.
His comment followed a complaint made by the acting Executive Secretary of the National Labour Commission, Dr Bernice Welbeck, at the commission’s sitting on August 20.
Unco-operative heads
Dr Welbeck had told the commission that the NLC had received several complaints from retired public servants about the delay and non-payment of their pension benefits by public institutions.
In many situations, she said, the NLC needed the co-operation of heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, (MDAs) to find out the cause of the delays but “most heads have persistently failed to co-operate.
She had been subpoenaed to appear before the commission in a case in which a retired public servant, Mr Seth Adzah, had petitioned the commission for being allegedly “victimised” by the Volta Regional Director and the Human Resource Manager of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), by denying him his Cap 30 pension.
Dr Welbeck said Mr Adzah was an employee of the GHS who retired as an Assistant Chief Technician Officer, after 39 years of service.
He said although he retired in 2006, all attempts to get his benefits paid had not been successful.
Apathetic heads
Justice Apau said though heads of public institutions knew the right thing to do to lift up the country from its development debacle, most of them had failed to play the roles expected of them.
According to him, most heads of public institutions were not mindful of the huge judgement debt the state paid because such monies “do not come from their pockets.”
He said those individuals tended to forget that when state resources were wasted, it affected the salaries, remuneration and pension benefits of public sector workers.
The Sole Commissioner noted that on the other hand, the private sector treated complaints made against them seriously, “because if judgement goes against them they lose their money.”
Source: Graphic Online