The Press Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Julius Kwame Anthony, has called for stronger support for organized labour, particularly teachers, regardless of which political party is in government.
According to him, successive governments must recognise the critical role teachers play in national development and ensure that their concerns over remuneration and working conditions receive serious attention.
Speaking on Breakfast Daily on Channel One TV, Mr. Anthony said teachers remain among the professionals whose compensation deserves greater attention, despite the significant number of workers in the sector.
“Regardless of who forms the government of the Republic of Ghana, all of us must be allies of labour, especially when it comes to teachers,” he said.
He explained that the large number of teachers often presents a challenge when government evaluates compensation within the context of the national budget.
“Teachers are underpaid, regardless of who runs the regime, and the reason is simply because of the numbers—the sheer numbers over there,” Mr. Anthony stated.
He noted that although the education sector receives one of the largest allocations in the national budget, the size of the workforce means that individual teachers may still receive relatively modest compensation compared with professionals in other sectors.
“When it comes to evaluation of compensation and all of those things as a function of the national budget, they look at the totality of the budget and how much the sector is. The ministry has the biggest budget,” he explained.
Mr. Anthony, however, stressed that the size of the education sector should not prevent individual teachers from receiving fair remuneration for their work.
“When you get to the individual teacher, then you get to see numbers that are minimal in comparison to other professions,” he said.
He further addressed concerns surrounding the payment of teachers following promotions, explaining that the issue had arisen from differences between the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department over the required administrative procedures.
According to him, while one position is that a teacher’s promotion should automatically result in the immediate commencement of the corresponding salary, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department maintains that certain documentation and processes must first be completed.
“It’s an issue of GES and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department not being on the same page on the modalities of implementation,” Mr. Anthony said.
He explained that the current approach requires the necessary documentation and ratification processes to be completed before payments can be effected.
“Someone is saying that the posting, once there’s promotion, must be automatic and payment begins immediately. The Controller and Accountant-General is saying that some documentation must follow,” he noted.
Mr. Anthony said the necessary steps were being taken to resolve the matter and assured affected teachers that they would receive their rightful entitlements once the outstanding processes were completed.
“The position is that they should go with the Controller and Accountant-General. The first person’s position, which ratifications are being done, the teachers will get their due. I stand with them on that matter,” he stated.
He reiterated his call for political and institutional stakeholders to prioritise the welfare of teachers and organised labour, stressing that support for workers should remain a national responsibility irrespective of changes in government.