The Ghana Police Service has expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), saying it had raised the morale of the personnel and that the move would engender discipline and professionalism in the service.
The Service has been successfully migrated onto the SSSS and pay slips for service personnel for July ending reflected the pay policy, drawing
commendations from personnel for government's commitment to reward them adequately for their efforts.
"Personnel of the Police service have been astounded by their pay-slips for July 2010. Most are still coming to terms as to whether it is a one-off event, a mistake by the payroll office, or a real commitment by government to implement a salary regime that adequately compensates them for their efforts" said Paul Tawiah Quaye, the Inspector-General of Police, at an interaction with members of the Implementation Committee of the SSSS at the Police headquarters in Accra.
"The Police Administration considers this gesture as a policy that has come to right the wrongs of the past, with respect to salary discrepancies in the public sector.We are therefore grateful to government that the issue
of poor salaries for police personnel have been resolved for good."
"To us policemen, this is a great achievement by Government which must be acknowledged and recommended," he said.
Mr Quaye said the pay policy would contribute to enhancing discipline and professionalism given the threat of losing a significant and respectable income for any act of misconduct.
"Majority of personnel would now be free from the severe and unbearable financial constraints that used to confront them on daily basis, a situation which used to impact negatively on their performances."
"The SSSS would create a more relaxed mental environment that would enable personnel to be more dedicated towards work and enhance their
productivity in the long run. Personnel now know that, their efforts are now being significantly and appropriately rewarded," he added.
The IGP however noted that much as the service was happy with the implementation of the SSSS, it expected that with the advent of time, other conditions of service and allowances which personnel hitherto enjoyed would be addressed in the post implementation period when they meet the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWAC).
Mr George Smith-Graham, Chief Executive Officer of FWSC said that contrary to speculations that government had not kept to its promise of implementing the pay policy by July 1, the SSSS had been rolled out successfully.
He said that with the Police Service successfully hooked onto the structure, the FWSC was working with other public institutions to map
individuals onto their grades and levels on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
Mr Smith-Graham, who said mapping was the most difficult aspect of the implementation, explained that some workers had been on the same grade or level for various periods of time in their institutions and, therefore, had to be mapped separately and the number of workers for the mapping would delay the implementation in some institutions this month.
He said institutions with few workers who complete the mapping process early may be put on the SSSS by the end of August, 2010.
Mr Smith-Graham appealed to all public servants to exercise patience as government took steps to implement the policy that could attract and retain people in the service.