Data on 2 million employment Miracles Aboagye institutions Sammy Gyamfi on government employment categories

Dennis Miracles Aboagye, a senior New Patriotic Party (NPP) communicator, has requested that Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), understand the types of government sector jobs before attempting to respond to the data on the over 2 million jobs created by the government.

Last week, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia provided detailed information on government-created jobs, including the number of jobs under Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), as evidence for his claim that the government has created over 2 million jobs in direct public and independent public sectors.

Sammy Gyamfi of the NDC, however, attempted to discredit the Vice President's data by comparing it to the number of public sector jobs enumerated in the budget of the Minister of Finance, which he claimed was lower than the Vice President's figures.

It has come to light, however, that Sammy Gyamfi rather restricted his claim to public sector employees who are paid by the Controller and Accountant General and excluded government agency employees who are paid directly by their respective agencies and not by the Controller and Accountant General.

In a viral video depicting the two in a radio discussion, Dennis is seen refuting Sammy Gyamfi's claims by explaining the distinction between the two categories of government/public sector jobs and how the Vice President categorized them.

Dennis composed an article on his Facebook page to educate Sammy Gyamfi on why the Finance Minister's budget statement to Parliament could have only captured the number of workers paid by Controller and not include workers paid directly by agencies.

I have witnessed a feeble attempt by the National Communications Officer of the NDC to challenge the verifiable data on job creation published by our Vice President, H.E. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

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I am only addressing this because of the arrogant manner in which the National communications officer of the NDC is propagating this ignorance, as well as his constant insulting of the Vice President and labeling him a liar.

First, the Vice President referred to "Job Creation" and not the employment of the controller and accountant general's department.

Sammy Gyamfi has not realized, despite the fact that I tried to educate him yesterday on Asempa 94.7 FM, that the Budget document he refers to on page 230, appendix 7 only covers public sector employees who are paid directly from the Consolidated fund and the controller and accountant general, and whose compensation has a direct impact on the account balancing of the finance minister.

There are two classes of Government Employees:

Category 1 consists of government employees who are paid directly from the consolidated fund. For example, educators, civil servants, nurses, physicians, local government service personnel, security personnel, etc.

CATEGORIES 2: Individuals employed by subvented Public agencies and Public Enterprises who are paid directly by the institutions and not by the central government (controller). For instance, GNPC, NPA, NLA, Ghana Gas, Cocobod, PBC, Ghana Water, ECG, VRA, and Ghapoha.

Now, the finance minister provides budget ceilings for category 1 employees, whose compensation impacts the finance minister's Wage Bill, in his budget reading, as captured on Appendix 7, Page 230 of the 2023 budget.

This table excludes all other public institutions whose salaries are not paid directly by the finance minister. Naturally, the finance minister does not budget for the salaries of staff recruited by Mr. sammi Awuku at NLA, Dr. Mustapha Hamid of NPA, or Mr. Aidoo of Cocobod, so you should not expect him to include their staff strength in an appendix titled OLGS & RCCs budget ceilings.

There is no table of all Ghanaian public sector employees in the budget for 2023 or any budget since 2017 for that matter. In fact, the Appendix 7 Table of the budget only includes category 1 public sector employees who are paid directly by the CAGD.

In the same 2023 budget statement, on page 114, paragraph 548, captioned JOB CREATION IN COCOA, the finance minister reported that approximately 147,000 jobs were created through the implementation of the various cocoa sector revitalization programs. For instance, destitute youth are recruited to assist with cocoa hand pollination and cocoa mass spraying, etc.

Sammy GYAMFI must indicate in Table 7 of Appendix 7 where these 147,000 Cocobod positions have been reported. Obviously, they are not included because that table is intended for recruitment of personnel paid directly by the finance minister through the controller, and these Cocobod employees do not come into that category. On the appendix 7 table, you will find the Agric extension officers, but not the cacao Mass Spraying employees. The Agric extension officers are compensated by the controller, while the cocoa mass sprinkling personnel are compensated by Cocobod.

Employment in Category 2 is not and cannot be included in the Appendix 7 Table. It will be exceptional.

In spite of this, each of these category 2 public sector institutions has a mother ministry, which explains why, on the Vice President's Data Sheet, they are listed under the mother ministry but in a different color than the agencies covering these figures.

Referring to the Vice President Data Sheet, examine No. 6, Ministry of Transport, and you will notice, in the third column under Agency, that Ghana Maritime Authority, Ghana Shippers Authority, DVLA, Metro Mass Transport, and a number of other Public entities are listed under ministry of Transport before the year-over-year figures are displayed.

Appendix 7 of the 2023 Budget, to which Sammy Gyamfi refers, does not include all of these agencies published by the Vice President, and rightly so, as their staff wages are not paid by the Finance Minister and therefore do not appear in the finance minister's wage bill budgeting.

Sammy Gyamfi's incessant attempts to spread falsehood and untruth, which he does primarily through insults and attacks against the Vice President, must be stopped. And must be verified through a single method, the Facts!

If the NDC were a legitimate political party, this report by the Vice President would be the most easily verifiable ever. Instead of rushing to insult the Vice President, visit SSNIT and reconcile the enrollment figures with the figures reported, visit the Institutions and verify the figures reported, and then you can take your time to trace and identify the gaps, but alas, the typical NDC, incompetent in government and in opposition, is counting on the isolated challenges of the government as a ticket back to power.

Before attempting to engage the Vice President in a data- and issue-based debate the next time the NDC wishes to do so, they should read widely.

Sammy Gyamfi will lead you into a ditch if you don't peruse your own books, data, and reports after hearing him speak.

He is a very intelligent young man, but he deliberately ignores the truth, resists the facts, and embellishes it with barbs in order to gain political advantage by appealing to the emotions and sentiments of his readers and listeners. Not even 10% of the issues he raises will pass the fact check if you test 100 of them.

Let's avoid insults and instead be brutal and confrontational in the debate, but only through the use of evidence.