Let’s look at size of Public Service again

Democratic governance functions more effectively in a media-rich society where  free press provides the space for all to voice  their opinions on the conduct of public affairs.

Since 1993, our democratic credentials have not been in doubt, as is established in Article 35 Clause 1: “Ghana shall be a democratic state dedicated to the realisation of freedom and justice, and accordingly, sovereignty resides in the people of Ghana from whom the government derives all its powers and authority through the Constitution.”

But in the over 57 years of nationhood, certain people have not discharged their obligations well to engender the kind of development that will give hope to the people.

During periods like this when the people are experiencing challenges, the tendency is always to pass the blame on to others and absolve ourselves of it.

The situation in which we find ourselves does not lend itself to the blame game, as we are expected to stand up to be counted.

The going is tough but we should not give up. The President and his men and women in the saddle have to offer solutions out of our present circumstances but nobody can be prevented from offering suggestions and even criticising what is going on.

The Daily Graphic believes strongly that it is in this spirit that Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom delivered his version of the State of the Nation Address last Monday, titled, “Solutions for Ghana: A Nation in Crises”, in which he called for the trimming down of the number of ministers to a maximum of 40 to reduce the cost of governance and set the tone for an effective restructuring of the country’s public service.

It has been said time and again that the Public Service of Ghana is very big for a population of about 25 million.

Now the concerns raised over the unwieldy nature of the Public Service has come to haunt us, especially since the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy  (SSPP), as it has been revealed that about 70 per cent of national revenue is used to pay wages and salaries. 

This is certainly unsustainable. 

As we struggle over the challenges of raising enough revenue to fix at least the infrastructure deficit, productivity is at the lowest ebb and no country can be truly independent if it cannot produce to feed its people.

At the moment, some of the people on the payroll of the government contribute very little to the national kitty and yet expect their employer to pay them at the end of the month.

We do not have an immediate solution to how we can match revenue with expenditure, so that we can execute projects to improve the well-being of our people.

But is the state prepared to absorb the extra cost of retrenchment in the Public Service, such that those who will be thrown out onto the streets do not become a burden on society?

However, while we to try to resolve the puzzle of raising more revenue to pay workers and carry out development projects, we ought to spare some thought for reforms in the public sector.

Small, they say, is beautiful, and although the electorate cannot determine the President’s team, it will be worthwhile to reconsider the size of the government machinery, from the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary to the entire public sector.

As presently constituted, some public service workers, who idle about, work lotto during office hours and go to and leave the office at their own time have become parasites on the national purse, while peasants, artisans and traders work hard to fulfil their tax obligations to pay such workers for doing nothing.

Our circumstances demand that we make the public structure productive to lead the process of national economic renewal.