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Kufuor raises public sector salaries, decision infuriatesTony Aidoo
Audrey Micah, Ghanadot

Accra, Jan 9, Ghanadot - Dr. Tony Aidoo, a former deputy Defense Minister under the Rawlings-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has described the decision of former President Kufuor to increase public sector wages as outrageous and perfidious.

According to him, there was no justification why the former president took such an important decision in the very last hour of his tenure, adding that “Even though we are in an era when we say that it is time for inter-party reconciliation…I think we must call a spade a spade. This action of President Kufuor is highly unacceptable,”

Just after former president Kufuor left office, he took some decisions which led to public criticisms of him, among the lot was the pardoning of some 500 prisoners, including former Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) boss Tsatsu Tsikata, who was slapped with a five-year jail sentence on charges of causing financial loss to the state and misapplying public funds.

Mr. Kufuor also reinstated a former Police Director of Operations, ACP Kofi Boakye, who had been interdicted following a drug scandal he was accused of involvement.

Possibly what emerged to be the very last decision of his was to increase public sector salaries between 16 and 32 percent.

Conversely in a reaction to the issues, Member of Parliament (MP) for Okaikoi North and a member of Mr. Kufuor’s cabinet, Nana Akomea, justified the move.

He revealed that although the decisions had been taken far earlier, the announcement was delayed due to the elections.

“It goes back to how the transition was structured; there was no time at all over the last one month for anybody to do any deliberate government policy formulation.

“A lot of these decisions that had already been taken could not necessarily be processed into the public domain,” he stated.

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