Dr. Kofi Amoah
Investment consultant Dr. Kofi Amoah says government is chickening out of the tough but necessary decision to cut the payroll and free up capital needed for financing development.
The CEO of entertainment hub Citizens Kofi, believes laying off some public sector employees is one of the hard calls government must make in view of an underperforming public service sustained by an 8-billion cedis wage bill.
He was speaking at an economic forum organised by the Business & Financial Times and Joy FM. The programme has brought together key public and private sector players for the two-day discussion.
Ghana urgently needs significant investments in infrastructure and social services. Although contracting loans is one way to raise money for critical investments, Dr. Amoah believes there are other ways Ghana is “overlooking” in raising capital.
“What monies can we save inside Ghana?” should be a question engaging minds at the top echelons of government, he pointed out.
Kofi Amoah believes that some staff within public institutions are surplus and must be taking money out of the public purse. Citizen Kofi, as he is popularly called, maintains that a ministry has identified that it needs only 80 employees yet it has about 400 workers on its payroll.
It is “clear to me the number of people in that ministry is bloated,” Dr. Amoah said.
Many public sector jobs, he asserted, are given purely as a measure to reduce unemployment rather than a genuine need to increase productivity – something he said doesn’t make sense because eventually government will be broke paying for an unproductive workforce.
Kofi Amoah is suggesting that Ghana government is bold enough to lay off workers.
He blamed the lack of political will to take tough decisions on the desire to win elections.
Credit: Myjoyonline.com
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