The Dean, School of Graduate Studies at University of Professional Studies, Dr Kweku Mawutor Mensah says it is populist, a decision by the new Board Chairman of COCOBOD to slash the salary of the Chief Executive Officer into half.
According to Dr Mensah, the decision by Hackman Owusu Agyeman, a former Foreign Affairs Minister, will rather serve as disincentive if not discourage people from aspiring to that position.
The Board Chairman had recently revealed in a radio interview that he will ensure huge reduction in the salaries of top management at COCOBOD, explaining that the salaries being paid to former CEO and other managers of there are outrageous and not sustainable.
His comments followed revelations that the immediate past CEO of COCOBOD Dr. Stephen Opuni earned a whopping GH¢70,000 monthly salary.
“I beg to differ, it is a populist decision. I was not happy when I heard it. It is too populist that is capable of discouraging people from taking up that post” Dr Kweku Mawutor Mensah told Bright Kwesi Asempa, host of Onua FM morning show.
The Dean of School of Graduate Studies at UPSA further opined that, if salaries of Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors of state institutions are not pegged at target and performance set at the institutions, the status quo will remain.
“The politicians will always push their people to those positions for their own gains, which gives them room to offer all kinds of excuses in the event that they did not deliver,” he added.
He stressed that targets and performances should be rewarded instead of political affiliations which is a recipe for cronyism and nepotism.
He maintained that if the CEOs and the MDs fail to meet the standards set for them, they should be fired. He suggested that government must take its hands off appointment of CEOs and MDs to public institutions else “we will be going in this cycle”.
By Bright Dzakah/Onua 95.1FM/3news.com