Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Dr Rashid Pelpuo, has accused the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration of deliberately cre
Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Dr Rashid Pelpuo, has accused the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration of deliberately creating a payroll crisis to burden the current government.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday, October 7, the Wa Central MP said the NPP employed thousands of workers without adequate financial planning before leaving office.
“It’s in their DNA to give the incoming government a problem — let them fail, and let the people say that they have failed,” Dr Pelpuo stated.
He explained that upon assuming office, the current administration discovered that the NPP had added more than 12,000 new workers to the public payroll without securing funds to pay them.
“At the point of exit of the NPP government, they imposed on us 12,000 new workforce that they did not prepare to pay. They didn’t have the money to pay them, but employed them,” he said.
According to Dr Pelpuo, the outgoing government also failed to make the necessary budgetary allocations for the first quarter of the year — a critical transition period when new administrations depend on provisional funding to maintain stability.
“They exited the three-month budget which they had to prepare for as we take over, but didn’t take into consideration any of these,” he added.
The Minister’s comments follow protests by the Coalition of Unpaid Nurses and Midwives, who marched in Accra on October 2 to demand the payment of salaries owed to nearly 7,000 health workers left unpaid for almost ten months.
Read also: [Unpaid nurses and midwives protest over 10-month salary arrears]
The nurses explained that although they were officially posted in December 2024 after receiving financial clearance, many have still not been paid — even though about 6,500 of their colleagues received their first salaries in April 2025.
Dr Pelpuo criticised the previous administration for making employment decisions based on political motives rather than fiscal responsibility.
Responding to a question from host Evans Mensah, he said the timing of the recruitment — just before the 2024 general elections — showed that the NPP was more interested in winning votes than ensuring sustainable payroll management.
“It shows that there had not been preparation. They had been preparing to contest an election,” he explained.
“Everything that will give them a good image from the side of the young person who is unemployed and looking for a job is what they will do.
So they had done this over a period of time, hoping that in a culminating imposition of another 12,000, they would have then won the hearts of the young people and given them another mandate.”
Pressed further on whether the move was politically calculated, Dr Pelpuo replied:
“That’s the assumption — that what they are doing, there is some level of political decision tied to it, not necessarily because they wanted to pay them, but just to give them the impression that they too are employed.”
He, however, assured that the government was committed to resolving the issue and ensuring that all affected workers are paid.
“We are not complaining; we are looking at the situation where we can satisfy the will of the people who have given us the mandate,” he said.
“We acknowledge the fact that young people, as they are, need to start life and need to be comfortable working for what they have been employed to do. So we are doing everything to make it possible that we solve this problem — maybe before the end of the year.”
Dr Pelpuo also recalled how the outgoing Kufuor administration had left behind the Single Spine Salary Structure, which the late President Atta Mills had to manage after taking office.
“So it’s like their DNA to give the incoming government a problem,” he concluded.