FRAMEWORK FOR FAIR DETERMINATION AND DIFFERENTIATION OF SALARIES
Source: Nii Amu Darko: A nation’s prosperity is built on industrial and workplace peace. It is also universally accepted that where there is no fairness, there is no peace. We celebrate strike festivals more than Christmas, Easter, Homowo, Akwasidae, Hogbetsotso etc all put together. The reason is simple – a perception of an unfair gap in salaries in the workplace.
Any solution outside of bridging this perceived gap (real or imagined) will be a total waste of time. This is an attempt to create a unified, transparent and fair system of salaries. There are 2 sides to it.
Determination – this is the vertical axis. The difference in salary between groups.
Related: GHANAIAN DOCTORS STRIKE: SOLVING THE PROBLEM FROM THE ROOTS – PART 1
Differentiation – this is the horizontal axis. The difference in salary within the same group.
The framework is not for salaries only. It also establishes equivalents which are useful in transfers, promotions and cross-platform mobility of labour and expertise.
DETERMINATION
We have 4 broad groups based on comparable levels of Responsibility, Education, Accountability and Liability, the so-called REAL factors among others.
1. Cabinet Ministers and State Premiers, Speaker of the House, Chief Justice (SC justices), Chief of Defence Staff (service commanders), Head of Civil Service and Governor Bank of Ghana
2. State Commissioners and Speakers of Parliament, Appeal Court Judges, Heads of States Civil Service, D-G of Ministries and CEO of Public Enterprises, V-Cs of universities and other Profs.
3. Leaders of State Parliaments, Backbench of National Parliament, High Court Judges, Directors of Ministries, Chief Directors of State Departments, Senior Executives and Regional Managers, Assoc. Profs and Senior Lecturers
4. Backbench of State Parliaments, Directors of State Departments, District Managers and Lecturers.
In each category, there may be 3 or 4 grades. For instance, a Senior Minister may be one grade ahead of an ordinary Minister. Chief Justice may be at the same grade as a Minister but another SC judge a grade below them.
DOCTORS – where do they fit in this scheme?
I will divide medical doctors into 3 clinical groups
i. Junior – 1st 3 years post-qualification (Medical Officer)
ii. Intermediate year 4 to 9 post qualification either in training or service (Senior Medical Officer)
iii. Senior – from year 10 post qualification or a Specialist (Principal and Chief Medical Officers)
Medical Officers will be level 4, SMOs level 3 and PMO/CMOs level 2 above.
DIFFERENTIATION
This is salary discrimination within the same category. 20% loadings are applied to each factor in the basic salary of officers in the same category based on the following factors.
i. Responsibility – an error of a doctor far outweighs that of an MP. A doctor gets 20% loading
ii. Security – the job of a doctor is more secure than that of an MP. MPs get 20% loading
iii. Substitution – MPs can easily be substituted. It takes years to get a doctor. Drs get the 20%
iv. Convenience – Statutory duties of MPs do not entail much inconveniencing as those of Drs. MPs may also be forced to leave their families to come to Accra. 20% loadings to Drs and those MPs whose families (wife and children) stay outside Accra.
v. Mobility – MPs travel to their constituencies. Doctors do not. MPs get the 20%.
The maximum loading is 100% of basic. In the example above both doctors and most MPs will get 60%. If the basic is Ghc 100 000/annum, the consolidated basic becomes Ghc 160 000. A non-clinical doctor and a Director in the civil service in the same category may get 20% or 40% loading. There is no basis for any allowance to anyone working an average of 40hours a week.
From the above, you will appreciate that I find the leaked GMA conditions of service ridiculous but I understand where they are coming from. Doctors in the advanced world do not strike for more money because they and the politicians are paying mortgages for their houses. They know the system is fair. That is not the case in Ghana. ARM’s D & D of salaries is to establish that fairness.
Mother, if your newly appointed (Minister) son starts building a house for you within months, you must be very certain that will affect your healthcare down the line. Your nephew the doctor who used to teach your son mathematics in secondary school will also like to build for your sister, his mother.
That is the moral problem facing Ghana. In Ga we say, ke okwa ojo’?, abaa kwa afu bo. If you pretend to be dead, others will pretend and bury you. If parents, spouses and friends of thieving politicians pretend they are ‘’dead’’ to the stealing, they must know that others will pretend and bury them. This is tough talk, but nobody will escape the reality.
Let us have a simple, fair and transparent salary regime linking all the major sectors of the economy. Doctors will be the 1st to applaud such a scheme. Doctors are the fairest among all professionals. The discipline required to study medicine I think reduces the affinity for material things. I think the GMA’s ridiculous demands have more to do with the perceived rot in the system. Sad commentary.
The above is the general plan. The next part will deal with the structural problem of the Health Sector. It will be titled De-regulating Medical Practice – the Aeroplane Model.
Tswa omanye aba!
