The Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana(JUSSAG) has called off its nationwide strike after a crunch meeting with officials from the Ministry of Labour and Employment.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”8Q8pCtAXLzkgurS44lpP244dSash1dUE”]The nationwide strike which took effect on\u00a0May, 19, 2015 was to protest<\/a><\/strong><\/span> their unpaid allowances.<\/p>\n Activities in the various courts across the country subsequently came to a standstill<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>following the industrial action.<\/p>\n The situation also left lawyers and their clients across the country stranded.<\/p>\n Citi News\u2019\u00a0Fred Djabanor who earlier visited a number of courts in Accra reported that there was virtually no activity there.<\/p>\n He reported that the visibly frustrated people who thronged to the court to have their cases settled were disappointed to see most of the court rooms locked.<\/p>\n A frustrated client who earlier spoke to Citi News<\/strong> said : \u201cI have a judgement against SGSSB and they brought it to the Supreme Court and today being the ruling day, I have come here to have the case finally ruled for me and I am facing this frustration because the Judicial Services Staff are not around\u2026 I have been here for almost two and half hours ago.\u201d<\/p>\n The Minister of Labour had earlier criticised\u00a0JUSSAG for taking such a \u00a0decision, saying they acted in bad faith since they had scheduled to resolve the matter at a meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cI assured them that if they go to my office tomorrow [Thursday] morning at 10:30 I would have shown them the warrant but I assured them further that by the time they\u2019d taken their salaries for May that would have also been resolved and paid to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The National President of JUSSAG, Alex Nartey said they decided to call of the strike because government has shown enough commitment that their arrears will be paid.<\/p>\n He confirmed that the decision was taken after their checks at the Controller and Accountant General`s Department confirmed that their allowances have been paid to the Account Department of the Judicial Service.<\/p>\n He stated \u201cwhat has happened today is heartwarming. We have eventually had a breakthrough. Our checks at the Ministry of Finance , the Controller and Accountant General`s Department and the Bank of Ghana reveal that an action have taken and our concerns have been resolved and so our members are hereby directed to resume work on 8:30am effective Friday 21, 2015″<\/p>\n “What we are left with is for the Judicial Service Account Department to issue various cheques to effect payment to individual members. That entail some processes and between now and Tuesday 26, 2015 I am sure we will receive our monies,” he added<\/p>\n The Minister, for his part, told Citi News<\/strong>\u00a0 that the\u00a0Finance Ministry has paid what is due members of JUSAG.<\/p>\n “We indicated to JUSAG with some evidence that their demand was being processed by the Ministry of Finance , the Controller and Accountant General`s Department and the Bank of Ghana,” he said.<\/p>\n “I\u00a0am happy to inform you that Bank of Ghana have accordingly through the Ministry of Finance and government made released to the Judicial Service part of which will be used to defray the outstanding allowances of JUSAG.”<\/span><\/p>\n He expressed his gratitude to\u00a0the leadership of JUSAG for acting in good faith and\u00a0called on individual members of JUSAG to return to work in order for the Judicial system to work effectively.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Efe Ansah\/Kojo Agyeman\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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