Flawless information reaching Today from the corridors of power indicates that appointees of the president are breathing threats against the government over unpaid salaries.
The appointees, the paper was reliably informed, included District Chief Executives (DCEs) and some ministers of State who claim they have not been paid since their assumption of office in 2013.
They have subsequently taken to some public platforms to lament their woes with some claiming life is becoming difficult for them every passing day.
Some of the affected DCEs and ministers described the action by the Mahama-Arthur government as “criminal and injustice” and stressed the urgent need for government to find means of paying salaries arrears of DCEs and ministers to enable them use the monies to take care of their families.
“We are particularly worried because President Mahama was once a minister; he appreciates the difficulty… he is weakening the influence and importance of the ministers,” they lamented.
What is worse, the DCEs claimed is that “some of cheques that were given them by government bounced when they went to the banks to cash.”
The disenchanted DCEs and ministers lamented that the situation has brought them under pressure from their families who depend on them for assistance.
Although the first batch of the DCEs and ministers who were appointed by President Mahama in October 2013 have received their accumulated monthly salaries, Today gathered that many of the second batch of appointees, those appointed a couple of months ago (2013) before the beginning of the year under the review (2014,) have been kept in the lurch, wondering when they would be paid.
The paper can also report that it is only a week ago that the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Seth Terkper, finished work on a document to enable the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to prepare a voucher for the payment of salaries and emoluments of the affected DCEs and ministers.
Disclosing this to Today in an interview, a DCE who pleaded anonymity attributed it to the seeming inertia and snail-pace of doing things by the Mahama administration.
“As DCE, how can I and my family survive if after working for the State for almost over eight months, I have not been paid my salary?” the DCE queried.
Asked what might have accounted for government’s inability to settle their salaries, the livid DCEs told Today that he overheard the World Bank was demanding to know the structure of the salaries in order to advise government appropriately because of the current economic crisis that has hit the nation.
Today gathered that some of affected DCEs and ministers threatened to abstain from endorsing documents and approving loans, if government did not address the situation.
However, attempts to speak with Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga, on the matter proved unsuccessful as he failed to answer calls from Today.