salary struture in ghana
The Public Service of Ghana is a juggernaut which has to pay about 470,205 employees under a novel and encyclopaedic remuneration system known as the Single Spine Salary
Structure (SSSS). The Ghana Universal Salary
Structure (GUSS), the predecessor of the SSSS, was instituted in 1997 to address anomalies, disparities, distortions and inequities in the public pay structure.
The GUSS was touted as the first holistic public sector pay reform. Before the GUSS, there existed public pay review commissions and committees such as the Gyampoh Commission
(1992-93), the Azu-Crabbe Commission
(1979-1983), Issifu Ali Committee (1973) and the Mills-Odoi Committee (1967). Despite repeated attempts to rectify the problematic post-independence public pay system, the efforts of these reform-oriented interim entities could not completely bear the desired fruits. Since the GUSS did not fully deliver the goods, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government requested the then Minister for Public Sector
Reforms, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, to fashion out a pay policy that will correct the existing relative disparities among public service employees. The result of Dr Nduom's labour was the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP), the bearer of the SSSS, which he announced in
2007. The NPP Government was gingerly trying to implement the SSSS when it lost the 2008 elections to the National Democratic Congress
(NDC).
On taking the reins of power, the current NDC
Government seems to have taken the bull by its horns by issuing a white paper on the SSSS in
November 2009. The paper stated that the government would tackle the existing pay disparities within the public service; the rising cost of the public sector wage; the numerous public sector pay negotiations; and the link between pay and productivity.
To facilitate the implementation of the SSSS, public service workers have been categorised into nine organisations, taking job similarities into consideration.
Structure (SSSS). The Ghana Universal Salary
Structure (GUSS), the predecessor of the SSSS, was instituted in 1997 to address anomalies, disparities, distortions and inequities in the public pay structure.
The GUSS was touted as the first holistic public sector pay reform. Before the GUSS, there existed public pay review commissions and committees such as the Gyampoh Commission
(1992-93), the Azu-Crabbe Commission
(1979-1983), Issifu Ali Committee (1973) and the Mills-Odoi Committee (1967). Despite repeated attempts to rectify the problematic post-independence public pay system, the efforts of these reform-oriented interim entities could not completely bear the desired fruits. Since the GUSS did not fully deliver the goods, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government requested the then Minister for Public Sector
Reforms, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, to fashion out a pay policy that will correct the existing relative disparities among public service employees. The result of Dr Nduom's labour was the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP), the bearer of the SSSS, which he announced in
2007. The NPP Government was gingerly trying to implement the SSSS when it lost the 2008 elections to the National Democratic Congress
(NDC).
On taking the reins of power, the current NDC
Government seems to have taken the bull by its horns by issuing a white paper on the SSSS in
November 2009. The paper stated that the government would tackle the existing pay disparities within the public service; the rising cost of the public sector wage; the numerous public sector pay negotiations; and the link between pay and productivity.
To facilitate the implementation of the SSSS, public service workers have been categorised into nine organisations, taking job similarities into consideration.