FWSC should be mandated to regulate all government workers’ salaries – Earl Ankrah

The Head of Public Affairs at the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Mr Earl Ankrah, says the Commission should be mandated to handle salaries of all State institutions across the country.

Speaking on Okay FM’s morning show, monitored by ghanabusinessnews.com, he said the Commission has not been fully mandated to handle salaries of state institutions which generate their own income.

He said the fair wages act is unclear about the kind of institutions that should be regulated under the Commission.

“As a result, some of these institutions base on the act to say their board of directors determine salaries and that it is not in the place of the Commission to do so,” Mr Ankrah said.

“But if Parliament will be able to review those acts to empower the Commission to determine all salaries it will be better.”

“Institutions like the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), and others feel that because they generate their own income, they have the right to control their salaries but at the end of the day, they are all State institutions and it will be only fair that the Commission determines their salaries,” he added.

The Constitution Review Committee, he said, came out with recommendations that everybody’s salary from the President to the last civil servant should be regulated by the Commission.

He said the salaries of the President, the Vice President, Ministers of State, parliamentarians, Supreme Court judges among others are not determined by the Commission.

“So whenever issues related to their salaries come up, it becomes difficult to contribute to the matter.”

He said until the recommendations of the Constitution Review Committee are implemented, the Commission will be unable to regulate the salaries of all state institutions

Matters concerning the salaries of civil servants became topical earlier this week after it emerged that the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni was paid Gh¢70,000 monthly.

This revelation spurred public outcry with a section of the public questioning the role of the FWSC in handling salary related issues.

By Pamela Ofori-Boateng