Alhaji Osman urges Mahama to address public sector pay disparities

A member of the National Peace Council and Chairman of the Finance and Fundraising Committee of the Greater Accra Regional Peace Council (GARPC), Alhaji Khuzaima Mohammed Osman, has called on President John Dramani Mahama to use his current public support to address what he describes as a widening remuneration gap between Article 71 officeholders and other public sector workers.

According to him, the country has developed what he termed a "salary and remuneration apartheid pay regime," where political officeholders enjoy substantial benefits while many public and civil servants retire on modest pensions and limited post-service support.

Speaking in an interview with Modern Ghana News, Alhaji Osman expressed concern that successive governments have allowed a system of institutionalised pay disparities to persist despite all public workers being paid from the same national resources.

"This is unacceptable, and President Mahama must address the salary and remuneration apartheid pay regime as a legacy for workers," he said.

Alhaji Osman argued that the growing economic disparity between political officeholders and ordinary public servants poses a threat to social stability.

"We are sitting on a time bomb, as one day labour movements will wake from their slumber and demand their fair share of the national cake," he warned.

He noted that Members of Parliament enjoy a range of benefits, including salaries, committee allowances, subsidised housing, official vehicles, travel allowances, and protocol privileges, while many public sector workers receive comparatively limited benefits.

"Members of Parliament (MPs) receive extensive benefits, including substantial monthly salaries, lucrative committee allowances, heavily subsidized housing, official vehicles, comprehensive traveling allowances, and elite protocol privileges, while others receive virtually nothing," he indicated.

The Executive Director of the African Security and Development Forum (ASDEF) said many public and civil servants continue to face financial challenges and are often compelled to fight for modest adjustments in their conditions of service.

"This structural inequality is deeply unfair. If leaders expect public and civil servants to look beyond a single state source for survival, politicians must champion this standard by seeking external employment themselves," he added.

Alhaji Osman called for a national conversation on remuneration and labour relations, insisting that the current system must be reviewed.

"If the ruling class accepts this premise as a pragmatic financial blueprint for citizens, it must logically apply to them. Ghanaian parliamentarians and political leaders ought to take extra work outside parliament to support their families and share their professional experiences, rather than relying solely on heavily funded state offices," he asserted.

He further argued that public and civil servants play a more fundamental role in national development than partisan politics, citing teachers as an example of professionals who contribute directly to building the country's human capital.

"Politicians pass laws and manage public administrative institutions, but teachers actively build the human capital that drives every economic sector. Without educators, there are no medical doctors, engineers, or functional administrators," he said.

"A nation can survive a parliamentary recess, but it cannot survive the collapse of its public and civil service foundation," he added.

Alhaji Osman maintained that many successful democracies do not encourage a political culture in which elected officials depend entirely on state resources for their livelihoods.

He also referenced religious teachings on fairness and equitable compensation, arguing that both Christianity and Islam emphasise the dignity of labour and the importance of rewarding workers fairly.

Quoting the Bible, he cited 1 Timothy 5:18, which states: "The labourer is worthy of his wages."

"When those who shape minds are denied a fraction of what lawmakers allocate to themselves, the structural balance of justice is broken," he said.

He also referred to the Holy Qur'an, quoting Surah Al Mutaffifin (83:1-3): "Woe to those who give less than due, who, when they take a measure from people, take in full, but if they give by measure or by weight to them, they cause loss."

In addition, he cited a Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah Be Upon Him), which states: "Give the worker his wages before his sweat dries" (Sunan Ibn Majah).

Alhaji Osman concluded by stressing that denying public and civil servants what he described as comparable economic dignity undermines principles of fairness and social justice, and renewed his call for reforms to Ghana's remuneration system.

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