There is no intention by the Government to defer the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) to 2011, the ministries of Finance and Economic Planning and Employment and Social Welfare said on Tuesday.
A joint statement issued by Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning and Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, said the government was rather committed to the implementation of the Roadmap and was supporting the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to ensure the smooth implementation of the SSSS.
"We want to place on record Government's commitment to the effective implementation date of 1st January, 2010," it said.
"We wish to give assurance to our stakeholders that the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy is on course."
The statement stressed that the implementation of the SSSS was not a onetime event but a process.
"This fact is buttressed by the Government White Paper on the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy, which indicates that the policy will be implemented in phases."
It said considering the enormity of the implementation process, it was an acceptable fact that not all institutions could be migrated onto the SSSS at a go.
The statement said the initial mapping of workers onto the Single Spine Grade Structure would have to be done first by individual institutions and "so far, institutions that have successfully completed the mapping of their employees have been migrated onto the SSSS".
It said so far, the Commission had completed the migration of 20 Public Service institutions onto the SSSS.
They are Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Fire Service, National Commission for Civic Education, Ghana Co-operatives Council, State Enterprises Commission and West Africa Examinations Council.
The others are Narcotics Control Board, National Dance Company, National Symphony Orchestra, Gratis Foundation, National Board for Small Scale Industries, Irrigation Company of Upper East Region Ltd., W.E.B. Du Bois Centre, and Centre for National Culture.
The rest are National Folklore Board, Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine, National Culture - Abibigroma, Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park.
The statement said apart from these institutions, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission had also worked on the salaries of the Ghana Armed Forces.
"We, as supervising ministries, continue to acknowledge the support so far received from our cherished stakeholders, including organized labour, associations and institutions for the effective implementation of the pay policy," it said.