The Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, says no individual recruited into the public sector after December 7 last year will be spared from the ongoing review and cancellation of appointments.
He said the process of revoking these appointments would be thorough and strictly enforced to ensure accountability and fairness.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Friday he reaffirmed that the government remains fully committed to scrutinising and overturning these appointments, maintaining that the recruitment process lacked transparency, preventing equal employment opportunities for all qualified Ghanaians.
He criticised the previous administration for “irresponsibly” expanding the public sector workforce despite knowing they were leaving office, creating financial difficulties for the incoming government in managing salaries.
He also expressed worry about certain state agencies which had some 120 workers and a set number of assets under the previous NDC government in 2017.
“When the new NPP government took over, the agencies’ workforce has now increased to over 1,000 workers, despite no additional assets being assigned,” he said.
He questioned the sudden increase in staff at such organisations that had previously functioned effectively with just over 100 employees, arguing that despite being cautioned during the transition period to exercise restraint in recruitment, the outgoing administration ignored the advice, making it unjustifiable to retain those appointments.
The Majority leader’s statement came in response to concerns raised by the Minority Leader, Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who challenged the government’s directive to annul the employment of individuals hired after December 7.
Mr Ayariga defended the government’s stance, emphasising that proper governance requires responsible workforce management.
“This is one of the reasons why the NDC-led administration has also reduced the number of ministers from over 180 to 60 to streamline governance and cut costs,” he added.
During the transition period, he recalled, there was a rush to complete recruitment even after the NPP lost the election.
Outgoing ministers, he said hurriedly organised interviews and issued employment letters, disregarding warnings from the incoming government.
He stressed that the incoming administration had not agreed to commit available public funds to pay these newly recruited employees.
“You cannot overload the wage bill and expect us to inherit the problem,” he said.
Mr Ayariga disclosed that the NDC team urged their NPP counterparts to suspend recruitments, promising to assess the financial situation upon assuming office but the outgoing officials insisted they had the mandate to proceed with hiring as long as they remained in power until January 7.
He criticised the previous administration for making a decision he described as reckless, that now puts a strain on the new government’s ability to manage the workforce effectively.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU
