She lives at Pantang but works at Korle Bu as a nurse. Every morning, with her crisp white uniform, she boards a trotro and spends ₵42 daily just to reach her hospital post. But what you won’t see written on her face is that for 10 straight months, she has reported for duty, and for 10 straight months, her salary has not been paid.
This is how Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, widely known as Kwaku Azar, captured the plight of this “poor” nurse who is among nurses protesting months of unpaid salaries. She is contributing her quota to the national development, but the state isn’t honoring its part of the bargain.
This Pantang resident nurse’s plight mirrors the frustrations of thousands of nurses, teachers, doctors, and even national service personnel who have been working without pay for months.
The accounting and law professional believes the situation does not just reveal the struggles of individuals but a deeper systemic failure, which is what he describes as the collapse of accountability in Ghana’s payroll system.
He says this reality is as harsh as it is unjust. A nurse borrowing to pay for transport, a teacher begging to buy food, or a doctor living on the goodwill of friends are stories that should never exist in a country that prides itself on caring for its citizens. He insists salaries are not favors from the state; they are earned rights.
“When the state delays pay, it is not saving money; it is taxing the poor, forcing frontline workers to finance the government through loans and sacrifices they cannot afford. No public servant should ever have to choose between serving their country and feeding their family,” he indicated.
He added, “When a nurse, teacher, or national service personnel works for months without pay, it is not a clerical error. It is a violation of trust. Salaries are not favors; they are earned rights. Pay Day must be sacred.”
Labour unions have long complained about bureaucratic bottlenecks, budgetary delays, and administrative negligence as reasons for months-long arrears. Prof. Azar argues that the situation has gone beyond clerical errors. It represents a violation of trust between the state and its workers.
The implications are severe. Unpaid salaries breed resentment, reduce productivity, and push skilled professionals out of the system or even out of the country.
For a health system already struggling with brain drain and teacher shortages, the consequences are far-reaching.
“It is a story about the collapse of accountability in our payroll system,” he indicated. To address this situation, he is calling for a reset of the country’s payroll system. He says, “We must reset payroll so budget promises automatically translate into timely paychecks.”
To him, Pay Day must be sacred. He maintains that restoring discipline and automation in the payroll system is not a luxury but a necessity. Without it, Ghana risks losing both the trust of its workers and the stability of its institutions.
