I know government pays you ‘indecent’ salaries – Ofori-Atta to teachers, civil servants

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has admitted publicly that teachers and civil servants in Ghana are paid “indecent” salaries.

At a recent town hall meeting in Wa, Upper West Region, to sensitise Ghanaians to the e-levy and why the government needs it passed urgently, President Nana Akufo-Addo’s cousin told his audience on Monday, 21 February 2022: “I look at teachers and civil servants, for example, and I will be the first to admit that the salaries are indecent; nobody will argue with that”.

“So, yes, there is a legitimate demand for more and there is a legitimate reality that there is no money”, he admitted.

“So, what do we do as a society?” he asked.

“Then, you ask me to give you more salary; which is fine. Then, I say: ‘But it is your colleague civil servants who collect the money who are not collecting the money, so, how can you, responsible for collecting the money, not collect it and then tell me to give you the money. That will be another issue”, he illustrated.

The initially proposed 1.75 per cent e-levy has now been reviewed to 1.5 per cent.

It is still in abeyance in the hung parliament because the Minority Caucus has refused to play ball with the Majority side to get it passed.