Those affected according to the Controller includes public sector workers who failed to validate their payroll through the Electronic Salary Payment Voucher (ESPV) system, those with irregular or no bank account details, those with wrong SSNIT numbers, as well as employees not captured on the biometric registration system at the Ministry of Finance.

The Controller said it took the decision based on Regulations 297 of the Financial Administration Regulation, 2004 (LI 1802), with an objective of cleaning the payroll system and “improve efficiency of the government of Ghana payroll management.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”y1hR1qbuBDKDKgIU1JOPhbNP7DhzdeTy”]Affected employees according to the CAGD in an announcement in the Thursday edition of the Daily Graphic newspaper, would have to take advantage of the requirement for mandatory monthly validation of salaries.

“Those whose salaries were suspended due to non-validation of salaries would be paid at the end of September 2017 on the condition that their heads of department validate them on the ESPV platform for September 2017,” the CAGD added.

It further in the notice said employees declared unknown but not missing at their various places of work, are required to submit reactivation letters signed by their heads of departments to the Controller and Accountant General’s department payroll processing division.

“Employees with zero or irregular bank account details and others with wrong or without SSNIT numbers and employees sharing the same account numbers should submit the required information to the payroll processing directorate of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department for processing. Employees yet to go through the biometric registration exercise should contact the biometric registration center at the Ministry of Finance with the necessary documents for registration,” the notice signed by the Controller and Accountant General, Eugene Ofosuhene added.

Ghost names on payroll

Government undertook a similar action in April 2017 against public sector workers who were not captured on the new SSNIT biometric system.

A press statement from the Ministry of Finance at the time explained that “those affected had not been registered on the new SSNIT biometric system, despite several directives to do so.”

The Ministry also announced the suspension of payment of SSNIT contribution to some 23,029 employees because they could not be accounted for in a nationwide head count which ended on the 22nd of October 2016.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Gov’t suspends workers’ salaries over wrong bank accounts appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the sector is full and government might even be forced to lay off some workers if the need arises.

Speaking at the 2017 Ghana Economic Forum on Monday Mr. Maafo said “the public sector is full in terms of employment [and] we can’t employ anybody in the public sector.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”Lr4IpZbDiLOrm7iTGBqDU4cJcBYyqJ7t”]Mr. Maafo’s remark seems to be in sharp contrast to declarations by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) when they were in opposition.

The NPP heavily criticized the then Mahama government for freezing recruitment into the public sector and accusing them of covering up with the 3-year IMF agreement.

Mr. Maafo who conceded that Ghana’s economy is currently in a mess stressed that the public service was“full” and “perhaps we may have to even lay some [workers] off.”

The Senior Minister also said Ghana currently has 20 public and 75 private universities  and that it will be very difficult to employ students from the tertiary institutions saying this situation could be averted “if the private sector grows, if the private sector expands, if the private sector becomes prosperous.”

He further urged industry leaders, and the business community to partner government to establish furnish tertiary institutions with state of the art laboratories to enable them train more researches and engineers for the country adding that “if we do not get our minds set into this direction, we are heading for trouble as a country.”

The two day event which will end on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 is themed: “Building a Ghanaian owned economy, 60 years after independence.”

Mr. Maafo at the event highlighted four areas he said government was keen in developing to boost the Ghanaian economy.

These he said included improving Ghana’s micro economic stability, massive infrastructure development, accelerated industrial development and agriculture transformation.

“These four thematic areas should be able to change the complete face of our economy and I’m sure with your support – captains of industry, the banks, we should be able to accomplish this as a cooperative effort for the sake of Ghana. Let us think about future generations. This generation should lay forever a foundation that will make Ghana a centre of industry in West Africa,” he urged.

The two day event which will end on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 is themed: “Building a Ghanaian owned economy, 60 years after independence.”

Four strategies to boost Ghana’s economy

Mr. Maafo at the event also for the domestication of the Ghanaian economy.

“What are we doing to domesticate that production? Our location even in West Africa is even central; all these should speak to us. Let us resolve to get the economy resolved once and for all. Let us remove this tag of irreversibility on our head that Ghana will do well for some time and later we reverse to the bottom then we climb again to the top that cannot do. Once we set on motion and moving we should make it impossible for any government to reverse that motion. And that is why we are looking at the fiscal responsibility law, so you can’t come and run the deficit anyhow. There should be a law restricting you,” he added.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post We can’t employ more public sector workers – Osafo Maafo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.