The report that Ghana has dropped 30 places to 60th on the 2022 World Press Freedom Index and the claim by the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress the pay differentials in the public service have worsened, despite the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) over the past 12 years are
some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana has dropped 30 places to 60th on the 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
The ranking is Ghana’s third-lowest since Reporters Without Borders (RSF) began publishing the report in 2002.
Ghana ranked 67th in 2002 and 66th in 2005.
This year the index was compiled using a new methodology to take better account of new challenges, including those linked to media digitalisation.
Another change in the data gathering this year was that although the survey stopped at the end of January 2022, updates for January to March 2022 were carried out for countries where the situation had changed dramatically, such as Russia, Ukraine and Mali.
The survey assesses on the basis of a quantitative survey of press freedom violations and abuses against journalists and media, and a qualitative study based on the responses of hundreds of press freedom experts selected by RWB – which includes journalists, academics and human rights defenders.
A country fact file published by RSF said “Although the country is considered a regional leader in democratic stability, journalists have experienced growing pressures in recent years,”
“To protect their jobs and their security, they increasingly resort to self-censorship, as the government shows itself intolerant of criticism. In addition, one-third of media outlets are owned by politicians or by people tied to the top political parties. The content they produce is largely partisan,” the fact file reads.
It adds that journalists’ safety has deteriorated sharply in recent years.
“In 2020, reporters covering the effectiveness of anti-Covid-19 measures were attacked by security forces. And political leaders are again making death threats against investigative journalists. Nearly all cases of law enforcement officers attacking journalists are not pursued,” it said.
The newspaper says that the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, has said that pay differentials in the public service have worsened, despite the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) over the past 12 years.
He said the SSPP had rather distorted the salary structure, with some public sector workers on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) currently receiving very low salaries, which were woefully inadequate for any meaningful life in these difficult times.
“We now have a situation where junior officers in some public service institutions who are not on the SSSS earn much higher salaries than senior officers on the structure,” he said.
Dr Baah was addressing this year’s May Day celebration in Accra last Sunday.
He cited instances of workers on the SSSS receiving the lowest salaries, compared to their counterparts on other salary structures in the public sector.
The TUC Secretary-General said the highest salary on the SSSS in 2022 was GH¢7,404 per month, with the lowest being GH¢415 per month.
He said for last year and this year when public sector workers on the SSSS were offered four and seven per cent pay increment, respectively, some state-owned enterprises (SOEs) awarded themselves over 25 per cent salary increase, even though their salaries were higher than those for workers on the SSSS.
The Graphic also reports that the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has urged Muslims to uphold the great values they showed to humanity during the just ended holy month of Ramadan.
Addressing Muslims at the National Eid al-Fitr celebration at the Independence Square in Accra, Dr. Bawumia urged Muslims to continue to show kindness to humanity beyond the month of Ramadan, as they did during the Holy month.
“Beyond the Eid, let us uphold the great Islamic values of selflessness, generosity and compassion we showed towards humanity during the month of Ramadan,” said Dr. Bawumia.
“Let us continue to be each others’ keeper, love one another and be tolerant of each other regardless of religious and political affiliation,”
The Vice President’s address touched extensively on gratitude to God, for what he said has been Allah’s immense grace to the country, following the return to normal life from restrictions and devastation of covid-19.
He urged Muslims, and the country at large to be grateful to the Almighty Allah, for seeing the country through the covid situation, following decisive steps by the government to contain the pandemic.
“When covid-19 hit us, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, committed the nation into the hands of God by asking for special prayers from our faith-based leaders, as the government took a series of decisive steps to manage the pandemic and save lives of citizens,” Dr. Bawumia said.
The Ghanaian Times says that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of First National Bank, Dominic Adu, has said that the recovery of global trade will depend on the extent to which businesses harness existing business opportunities to boost their operations.
He said the growth opportunities that the COVID-19 had brought were closer than businesses “think and might be closer to their doorstep.”
Mr Adu said COVID-19 undoubtedly had put the brakes on trade all over the world, and Africa wasn’t insulated from this pandemic-driven fallout.
‘“But much of the world is now on track towards recovering from the economic impacts of the virus, which means it’s time for businesses to shake off the difficulties and constraints that understandably became the norm in 2020 and 2021, and make the decision to take back their success,” he said.
Mr Adu said the global economicrecovery would be gradual and there was the possibility of more waves of COVID-19.
He said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine would likely have a long-term impact on many economies across the world.
“Yes, the Russia-Ukraine conflict poses many challenges on the global economic stage. However, the direct loss of trade value and volumes are not hugely significant,” he said.
The CEO of First National Bank, said that businesses should view the economic and logistics challenges of the past two years as a reminder of the unique opportunity to grow their businesses.
GIK/APA