The Chairperson for the Public Services Commission, Mrs. Bridget Katsriku has challenged a statement by the Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo which stipulates that government cannot accept new employment profiles of job seekers in the public sector as it is choked.

Osafo-Marfo in August 2017 was quoted as saying, “government might even consider laying off some workers if the need arises” as the sector is estimated to be already employing more than 700,000 workforce.

However, Mrs. Katsriku is of the view that the remarks by the former Minister of Finance is a deviation from reality.

Speaking at a roundtable seminar on Local Government Reforms and Public Service Institutions, she argued that there are substantial employment opportunities available in the public sector.

“Superficially one may agree that the size of the public servers is bloated, however, I do not agree with the statement by the Senior Minister that the public sector is full in terms of employment so we cannot employment anybody in the public sector again, I do not agree with that statement,” Mrs. Katsriku noted.

Madam Bridget Katsriku held that, although the debate on the size of the public sector cannot be discounted, there still remain some deficits in the sectors of Health and Education respectively that require attention and staffing.

She also cautioned that the issue of over bloating should not be over emphasized whiles denying those quarters of the needed human workforce.

“It is true that there is over bloating in some areas of the sector but at the same time there are serious deficits in some areas therefore the over bloating should not be over generalised. Generalising it will deprive some critical sectors of key human resource,” Mrs. Katsriku said while addressing the gathering.

“When you take the sectors such as education and health, there so many human resource gaps. Many schools in the rural areas do not have teachers, rural health facilities are demanding more health personnel, so we have to employ people to satisfy this critical needs”, she added.

The seminar organized by the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) on the topic “Six Decades of The Ghana Public Sector: Issues and Prospects” sought to address the historic reforms the public sector has undergone and its future.

The round table event was held at the auditorium of the independent, not-for-profit policy research and advocacy organization at East Legon, Wednesday, January 17.