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Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has strongly criticised the 10% increase in base pay for public sector workers, describing it as insufficient and a disappointment to Ghanaian workers.
His comments come after the Tripartite Committee concluded negotiations and signed an agreement for the 2025 salary increment.
However, addressing Parliament on February 21, Mr. Afenyo-Markin argued that the previous Akufo-Addo administration handled salary adjustments more effectively, offering higher increments over the years.
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“In 2017, public sector workers enjoyed a 12.5% increment; in 2018, 11%; in 2020, 15%; in 2021, there was a 4% plus an interim premium of 15%; in 2022, a 15% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) on base salary; in 2023, 30%; in 2024, 23% between January and June, and then from July to December, it was 25%. We have just heard of a paltry increase of 10,” he stated.
The minority leader further urged the government to reconsider the increase, arguing that workers expect better from the Mahama-led administration.
“The leader of government business must take note and inform His Excellency, the President, that these are the numbers he came to meet. The ordinary Ghanaian worker has a higher expectation. In this 133, 24-hour reset economy, they expect that President Mahama, if he cannot match it, will do better. Mr. Speaker, the 10% is unacceptable,” he emphasised.
In response, Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga defended the government’s decision, attributing the modest increase to economic challenges inherited from the previous administration. He noted that organised labour understood the current situation and willingly accepted the offer.
“At the end of the negotiations, the workers of this country, led by their union leaders, happily and gladly accepted the 10% increase. Accepting 10% as against 25% or 12% or 13% is a vote of confidence in the leader because they are confident that President John Dramani Mahama, when he collects the public taxes, will not be flying aircraft and bathing in the air, that he will not be engaging in wasteful spending,” he asserted.
As public sector workers react to the new salary adjustments, the debate over fair compensation continues, with the government balancing economic recovery efforts against the expectations of the labour force.
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