The government and organised labour on Tuesday agreed that there could be no viable alternative to the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP). President John Mahama and Mr. Kofi Asamoah, Secretary-General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) stated this position at the national forum in Ho on “the sustainability of the Single Spine Pay Policy”.

“Opting out of SSPP is not an option for government,” President Mahama said.

He said the journey to implementing the SSPP has been chequered with numerous salary structures for a number of grades in the public sector, hence the attempt to adopt a rationalised salary regime before the inception of the SSPP in 2010.

President Mahama added it is therefore not surprising that there are hiccups with the implementation of the SSPP.

He said it is therefore necessary to address the core challenges in a way as to link “work, happiness and pay to productivity,” and introduce pragmatism in managing public sector pay in general.

Mr Asamoah said there is “no viable alternative to the SSPP. Reversing it is not in question. The alternative will be chaotic.”

Mr Asamoah said Labour’s position on issues on public sector pay in general has not changed.

He said, for example, Article 71 public office holders should come under the SSPP and government should rid its payroll of “ghost names” and disaggregate the public sector pay.

He said obsolete equipment should be replaced in order to achieve higher productivity because the SSPP would not automatically lead to increased production.

Mr Asamoah said blaming the high wage bill on the SSPP is not good for good labour relations, urging government communicators and commentators should refrain from the practice.

Mr. Seth Tekper, Minister of Finance, said the SSPP was not solely responsible for the fiscal challenges.

He said borrowing to complete projects, subsidies, high spending on goods and services and the fact that every election year brings about its own spending challenges were some of the factors responsible for the fiscal challenges.

He said government is however adopting a number of measures to address the situation.

Mr. Tekper said Ghana should not borrow money to pay salaries because that would adversely affect the private sector.

He said having to pay higher salaries from tax revenue means that development projects and provision of goods and services have to be put on hold.

Mr. Tekper said government does not want to reach a point where “we cannot pay salaries”.

Mr. George Smith-Graham, Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), said the SSPP is a “good public policy and everything must be done to protect the policy”.