Accra (Greater Accra) 8 March '99

The Central Management Board (CMB) of the Salaries and Wages Policy (Price Waterhouse) implementation committee on Monday forwarded a status report to the government and announced that the new salary and wages structure will be released later this month. Although the CMB did not mention a tentative date for the actual implementation of the new policy, it said any increases resulting from negotiations on the execution of the policy will take effect from January, 1999. Mr Augustus K. Yankey, Chairman of the Central Management Board told a press conference in Accra that the Controller and Accountant General's Department has started working on the new policy. Mr Yankey said most of the principal stakeholders which failed to embark on the off-loading exercise at the initial stages have now complied with the off-loading directive. Some of the stakeholders have raised fundamental questions on the methodology used in the classification and grading structure with others criticising the guidelines for the conversion exercise. ''Care must be taken in the implementation of the new policy to ensure acceptability by all stakeholders'' he stressed and called for understanding and cooperation of stakeholders ''for the work to be concluded to meet the expectations of the people''. Mr Yankey emphasised that two aspects of the Price Waterhouse recommendations -- correction of disparities in the salary levels in the public services and compensations -- remain critical. He said the CMB has tried to ensure that the government's determination to translate the report into reality comes to fruition but "I find it extremely important that a thorough work be done on reservations of stakeholders to avoid a situation that will result in one step forward, two steps backwards''. Mr Yankey said the CMB has received the cooperation and the understanding of the leadership of the Civil Servants Association, Ghana National Association of Teachers, Ghana Registered Nurses Association and the Judicial Services Association of Ghana.