Gov’t rejects claims salaries may not be paid in 3 months

The Government of Ghana has described as untrue claims that it may not be able to pay salaries of public workers in the coming months if something urgent is not done.

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, had said last week on the floor of Parliament that information available to him suggests the government may not be able to pay public workers in the next three months if some critical decisions are not taken.

“This is not to discourage the committee from doing their work. If something is not done within the next three months, the government may not be able to pay salaries… So we have to take leadership. We have to do a lot of things”, he said just before he adjourned the sitting.

But the government has said this is not true.

In an interview with Citi TV, Deputy Finance Minister, Dr. John Kumah explained the government has been able to pay workers during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and will continue to do its best to honour its obligations to public workers.

“It is not true. Even when COVID-19 hit us hard, and we were struggling as a country, we still managed to pay all public workers and on time. In January this year, workers were paid on time, we are hopeful that of February will be paid on time”, he said.

The Deputy Minister is optimistic that the economic situation will not deteriorate to the point where the government will not be unable to pay workers.