Claim: A Facebook user has claimed that the government will not provide salary increments for public sector workers this year.
Verdict: Misleading! The current government, led by John Mahama, has made no official report on salary increments for public sector workers in 2025.
Body
A viral Facebook post suggests that public sector workers will not receive salary increments in 2025. The post features an image of Ghanaian journalist Israel Laryea on Joy News, implying he reported this claim.
The post was shared by a Facebook page, NPP Projects Bureau, on January 26, 2025, and has gained traction, accumulating over 100 comments, 20 shares, and more than 200 reactions.
Many users in the comments expressed their disappointment in the new administration, with some stating that such a policy was the intention of Mahama’s government even during his campaign.
CitiVerify decided to fact-check this claim to provide clarity.
Verification
Using digital verification tools such as InVID and Google Reverse Image Search, CitiVerify traced the origins of the claim to an old news report from March 17, 2021.
The statement about a potential freeze on salary increments was made during a budget discussion organised by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce in Accra under the Akufo-Addo administration. The claim being circulated now is misleading as it presents outdated information as though it applies to the current government.
Israel Laryea has also publicly debunked the claim that he authored such a report in 2025. His statement clarifying the misinformation can be found here.
Furthermore, the post wrongly suggests that Israel Laryea is still an active journalist at Joy News. However, checks by CitiVerify confirm that he has since transitioned into a different professional role. Currently, he serves as the executive head for Influencer Africa and only engages in journalism on a freelance basis.
Additionally, the incoming Minister for Labour and Employment, Rashid Pelpuo, was only vetted on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. No official decision on salary increments could have been made without a fully appointed minister.
Trusted media outlets and official government sources have also not released any statement confirming the claim.
Conclusion:
The viral Facebook post featuring Israel Laryea with the caption “No Salary Increment for Public Sector Workers” is misleading and false. The original report is from 2021, and there has been no official statement from the Mahama administration regarding salary increments in 2025.