Hene Aku Kwapong, a Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana Fellow and Ecobank board member, proposes that Ghana should publish all government roles with their salaries and benefits to rebuild public trust and strengthen accountability. The policy analyst argues the reform would help transform Ghana into what he calls a high trust society.
Kwapong suggests creating a public, searchable government career website that displays every public service position from junior roles to the highest offices, complete with job descriptions, salaries, and benefits. The proposal would show the complete public sector pay structure rather than individual employee names, allowing citizens to understand how their tax money funds government operations.
According to Kwapong, several countries including the United States, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom already implement similar transparency practices. He outlined six benefits that publishing government pay structures could deliver to Ghana.
The first benefit addresses confusion and speculation about public sector compensation. Kwapong explains that when citizens can search any role in any ministry and immediately see compensation details, political tension around public employment decreases. Public service would become less about perceived privilege and more about clearly defined obligations and compensation, he maintains.
A transparent pay system would create measurable standards for fairness. Ghanaians could compare similar roles across ministries and identify inconsistencies that become politically difficult to defend once visible. Kwapong notes that perceptions of fairness matter as much as actual income levels, and transparency makes fairness measurable rather than a matter of speculation.
The CDD Ghana Fellow describes opacity as the oxygen of patronage. Hidden pay structures allow managers to create informal allowances, invent special grades, or push through questionable promotions more easily. Ghost names can slip onto payrolls unnoticed. Transparency acts like bright light, making practices that once thrived quietly stand out and limiting room for favoritism.
Kwapong points out that Ghana’s wage bill is among the largest relative to revenue in Africa, yet citizens rarely know how it grows or where new hiring concentrates. A public portal would give journalists, researchers, and civil society the ability to monitor the payroll in real time, checking whether hiring patterns match fiscal promises and whether wage bills expand beyond sustainable levels.
The proposal would help restore the moral foundation of taxation. Kwapong argues that paying taxes is fundamentally an act of trust, with citizens complying because they believe their money is used responsibly. Publishing the full salary structure shows clearly how public money is used and what the state prioritizes, assuring taxpayers their contributions fund real roles rather than phantom workers or hidden perks.
For decades, governments in low trust environments have treated information like private property, according to Kwapong. A public sector career portal would send the opposite message that information belongs to citizens. It becomes the first visible sign the state is choosing transparency over secrecy. Because government already has the data and needs no external approval, publishing it becomes a powerful symbol of political will and accountability.
Kwapong emphasizes this reform extends beyond administrative improvement. It represents a foundational act that reduces suspicion, limits opportunities for abuse, strengthens fairness, and gives citizens tools to hold government accountable. Above all, it begins the process of rebuilding trust that Ghana’s political economy urgently needs.
The CDD Ghana Fellow, who also serves on the board of Ecobank Ghana, previously worked on Wall Street and founded the National Blue Ocean Strategy Initiative. His proposals come as Ghana continues discussions about public sector reforms and accountability mechanisms. Ghana’s Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) currently manages public sector compensation under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), which received a 10 percent increase for 2025 following negotiations between government and organized labor.