Shutting the Ghanaian Economy with the Single Spine; the untold Story

Article by: Austin Kwabena Brako-Powers (former NUGS Press and Information Secretary)

The conception and drafting of the ever major salary/pay structure policy in Ghana by the erstwhile Kufuor-led-NPP administration in 2008 was hailed by many workers who felt their “productive” hours was for the first time going to be rewarded by the Government of the country they have sworn on oath to love and protect. Others also see this pay structure by the then NPP Government as a smart way of sweeping votes from the labor unions ahead of the 2008 General Election in Ghana. 

The later opinion was led by the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who felt if nothing was done to bastardize the pay structure; their electoral fortune was going to fizzle into thin air till the next four to eight years later. This was done in a more structured yet vigorous ways to dissuade Ghanaians from voting for the incumbent party. On assumption of office, the late President John Evans Attah-Mills had to get his work right and his home well-organized to begin the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) popularly known among workers as the “single spine”.

Today, in its fifth year of implementation, the SSSS has been the source of more labor unrest in the country causing the nation to lose close to one billion Dollars annually. If it’s not the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), then it may be the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the Pharmacist Association of Ghana or the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) etc. 

The year 2012 was another story but this year’s story is a very sordid one because, it involves people who have some kind of personal vendetta against the politicians. They feel the arrogance of the politician who earns and steals the state’s coffers into sponsoring their flamboyant lifestyles and have resolved to punish them through labor unrests among others.

It is worthy of note that, productivity by our workers continue to remain the same even though the SSSS has out-run hence defeating the purpose of the pay structure. Instead of concentrating on productivity that will bring the needed capital to the Government to continue migrating more of the labor groups unto the structure, the workers are rather concentrating their effort on demanding more pay without a commensurate quality work done. 

The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and the National Labor Commission have had to negotiate and negotiate with more “ungrateful” labor groups who continue to run the country down with their strikes. Statistically, the SSSS takes close to over 60% of the Ghana Government generated revenue leaving a little or nothing to put up social amenities for the maximal benefit of the masses. The tax and revenue collection systems in the country too remain outmoded and ineffective bringing in less revenue to the Government.

The annoying part is when the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) part itself in the back and boast of having collected A and B amount of revenue as yearly target sets for the Government. Who set those meager and shallow targets for the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)? They are jokers. If the SSSS has come to stay, then the Government needs more money to cushion the pay policy that rewards “unproductive” workers in a poor country like ours.