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The proverbial Sword of Damocles is dangling over the necks of civil and public servants, and may likely spoil their Christmas, as their intended sack is reportedly planned to take effect next year. According to Finance Minister Seth Terkper, the government�s intention is to reduce what wages and compensation gulp the budget over a three year period, from its current 70 percent of tax income, to 35 percent. The government�s expenditure figures for 2013 provisionally equates that 70 percent of tax revenues to GH�7.1 billion, implying that at the end of the exercise, GH�3.5 billion could be available for infrastructural development, if it is not diverted into private pockets. Touted as one of the panaceas to turn Ghana�s ailing economy around, this measure, variously termed retrenchment, down-sizing, right-sizing, or trimming the wage bill, was included in the so-called �home-grown solutions� that Ghana presented to the International Monetary Fund during last month�s Article 4 meetings on Ghana. Though New Patriotic Party communicators seem to suggest that this planned right-sizing or whatever is the tiger that drove them away from the Akosombo forum, fearing it would spoil their electoral chances in 2016, organised labour has given a cautious response to it. Maybe workers would prefer down-sizing, which will be vigorously negotiated with some golden handshakes, to the Single Spine Salary Structure being suspended altogether. Of course, they ought to know which side of their bread is buttered. TUC Secretary General Kofi Asamoah wants the government to tread cautiously on the issue of sacking its workers, because if the �inefficiencies in the public payroll are not addressed,� it might not be prudent to go ahead with the exercise. Mr. Asamoah told Joy Business: �We have ghost names, and if we have ghost names it means people who are not working are being paid, which has shored up the wage bill. �If you want to really deal with the huge wage bill, of course, you may be reconsidering all these problems, but our caution is that we may have to find out the real cause of the problem, as against rushing to retrench, only to find out that the problem persists.� The Chronicle agrees totally with the position of the TUC. All the ills afflicting the government payroll should be pushed out of the closet and exposed to the harsh glare of the sun. The ghost names aspect of the problem is quite substantial, and cuts across the whole public service, where sectional heads, of whatever description, have created private fiefdoms, from which they feed. We will strongly advise the TUC to co-operate with the government, as the partners in progress that they are, and get the issue of ghost names in the public sector sorted once and for all. It could turn out, in all probability, that if the issue of ghost workers is effectively tackled, there may be no need for retrenchment at all. And even if there must be, the numbers that would be affected could be almost negligible. Meanwhile, The Chronicle calls on the TUC to start planning seminars to prepare those who may be affected by the retrenchment for life after the civil or public service, so that they do not fall prey to wolves in the general public. The facilitators of the seminars should take them through simple management and supervisory principles, and also point out areas where they could safely and profitably invest their lump sums. That way, the returns on their prudent investments would provide for their needs till the end of their days, and become a financial legacy for their children. That is the path of wisdom!