The teachers whose June salaries have been frozen by the Controller and Accountant Generals Department (CAGD) are accusing the government of scheming to \u201cshortchange” public sector workers.<\/p>\n
According to them, they duly submitted their SSNIT numbers as requested by the CAGD, therefore writing them off as ghost names is unfortunate.<\/p>\n
The president of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ernest Opoku on Eyewitness News<\/strong> stated that the teachers are very disappointed with Ministry of Finance’s directive \u201cand we think that it\u2019s a ploy to shortchange Ghanaian workers and for that matter, teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”f2ZMF7Es3NAgni7PRJQ3asEwgcMPJEtz”]In June this year, the CAGD advised all government employees to submit their social security information<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to their respective Personnel Processing Sections (PPSs) before June 12, 2015 to avoid the deletion of their names from the payroll.<\/p>\n Subsequently, the Coalition of Concerned Teachers issued a statement that about 15,000 teachers will be affected<\/a><\/strong> <\/span>because of the insistence from the Controller and Accountant General that they do not have SSNIT numbers on their pay slips.<\/p>\n On Friday however, the Finance Ministry directed the CAGD to suspend payment of salaries<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to all public sector workers who failed to submit their SSNIT numbers as earlier directed.<\/p>\n An angry Ernest Opoku explained that when the directive was given, he relayed the information to his colleague teachers who the submitted their SSNIT numbers to the Ghana Education Service (GES).<\/p>\n The Director General of the GES, he said assured them that their numbers have been forwarded to the Controller.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we are very much surprised that the Controller decided to take this decision. Over 15,000 teachers have been affected by this directive including myself,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n Mr Opoku narrated that upon hearing the news that their salaries will be suspended, he met with the Controller and Accountant General to explain the situation but her response was all the affected names are ghost names.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided to have a meeting with the Controller and what the woman said was that they believe the people are ghosts so I asked her if I am a ghost,\u201d he recounted.<\/p>\n We may sue or demonstrate<\/p>\n Mr Opoku told Eyewitness News<\/strong> host, Richard Sky, that they are considering bringing legal action against the GES, Finance Ministry and the CAGD or better still, they will demonstrate.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we have to go to court, we will go to court; if we have to demonstrate against the Controller, the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Education Service, we would,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n He argued that it is painful for teachers to work throughout the month only for them not to receive their meager salaries at the end of the month.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a worrying situation but it is only in Ghana that a Minister can sit somewhere and issue directives that at the end of the month don\u2019t pay workers\u2019 salaries and then Controller too will go ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what is happening in this country and I think that we must rise up and say that enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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