Claims that the government has undone public sector pay harmonization at important integrity organizations have sparked a heated public dispute between former Finance Minister Samuel Tweh and current Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine Ngafuan.
Ngafuan’s claim has been refuted by Tweh, who claims that such a reversal is both technically and legally impossible and points out that the institutions mentioned were never harmonized in the way the government is currently describing.
Tweh said in a thorough written response that was made public that the General Auditing Commission (GAC) and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) previously used the same compensation structure before the reform process. He clarified that harmonization only used standardized pay grades to uphold a payment structure that was equity-driven and rule-based.
He added that the goal of the reform was to substitute a single, transparent income subject to a single tax structure for the dual system of basic salaries and allowances, not to raise or lower salaries.
He pointed out that the program had a significant impact on the public sector, helping an estimated 45,000 workers over a three-year period and resulting in compensation raises for almost 15,000 government employees in its first year.
He noted that following the reform, instructors at the University of Liberia witnessed wage rises of more than 60%.According to Tweh, reversing harmonization would necessitate a complete return to the previous allowance-based system, which he claims the current administration has neither openly declared nor actually put into effect.
tweh’s response comes after the finance minister remarked in a recent interview on the radio show Class Reloaded, Minister Ngafuan said that the government has reversed harmonization for the LACC, GAC, Supreme Court justices, and judges.
“We have reversed harmonization at LACC. This year, in this budget, we have reversed harmonization at the GAC. For the Supreme Court bench and judges, we have also reversed harmonization. Workers of the DEA will receive pay increases this year. In this budget, we are moving gingerly,” Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan.
