Former Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Acheampong, has faulted Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Hon. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, for what he described as misguided and politically charged remarks blaming the previous administration for ongoing salary delays among newly recruited nurses, teachers, and junior doctors.
Mr. Acheampong said Hon. Pelpuo’s claims of “reckless recruitment and fiscal indiscipline” under the erstwhile Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government were not only inaccurate but ignored the formal processes governing public sector employment.
He maintained that all recruitments undertaken during the previous administration followed due financial and administrative clearance procedures.
In a strong rebuttal following the minister’s remarks, Mr. Acheampong emphasised that the recruitment of public servants is guided by strict regulations that prevent arbitrary appointments. He said these processes are established to ensure fiscal prudence and to safeguard public funds from abuse.
“Before any recruitment is sanctioned, the Ministry of Finance must have obtained clearance. All those who were recruited at the time sought approval from the Ministry. When the ministry grants clearance, it specifies when to begin recruitment because it is responsible for mobilising the revenue to ensure the process is sustainable”
Seth Acheampong, Former Eastern Regional Minister
He explained that it was misleading for any government official to suggest that mass recruitment was carried out recklessly, given that such actions require the Ministry of Finance’s authorisation to proceed.
“Sometimes I listen to the rhetoric of some of our colleagues, like Dr. Rashid Pelpuo and I ask myself why someone with so much experience would say this? We know what our issues are. You only fill vacancies in the public space when there are availabilities. If people have not retired or created new desks, how do you recruit into the public space?”
Seth Acheampong, Former Eastern Regional Minister
Delayed Salaries Explained
Mr. Acheampong rejected suggestions that the salary delays being experienced under the current Mahama administration were caused by the previous government’s recruitment practices.
According to him, such delays are largely the result of administrative verifications and validation processes that ensure transparency and accuracy before salaries are paid.
“Why is it that members of government who are just nine months in office are saying they haven’t paid yet? It is because of the processes involved for transparency’s sake,” he explained.
He noted that public service recruitment often takes months to process, as it requires matching vacancies to fiscal space and completing several verification stages to ensure compliance with policy standards.
The former Eastern Regional Minister warned that such political rhetoric risks misleading Ghanaians – especially young job seekers – into believing that government jobs are freely available or that previous administrations were careless with recruitment.
He urged public officials to be truthful about the limitations of public sector employment and to stop politicising administrative challenges.
“I have suffered from it. I have a friend whose nephew asked me to assist him in getting a job. I did all I could, and I wasn’t successful. During the campaign season in 2024, I advertised my bid to contest again on my WhatsApp status.
“The gentleman came to write underneath, ‘Eight years you couldn’t get me a job. No way for you this time.’ I wasn’t pained because I did my best, but to him, I had failed because he has been told that there is space in the public sector”
Seth Acheampong, Former Eastern Regional Minister
Mr. Acheampong said such misrepresentations distort public understanding of how recruitment actually works and foster resentment among citizens, stressing that hiring in the public sector depends on existing vacancies and financial capacity, not political will or campaign promises.
“Why can’t we be honest enough and tell ourselves that this thing we are doing to our body politic is not right? Why resort to the blame game again – blaming the predecessor that he was reckless – to what end?” Mr. Acheampong asked.
He urged the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to focus on addressing the underlying administrative challenges rather than shifting blame.
