The Council said it stands for the progress and development of the Kumasi Metropolis and will continue to support city authorities to implement policies that will benefit residents in Kumasi.

The KTC recently mediated a deal between a private developer and the assembly over the use of a piece of land for the completion of the ongoing Kejetia redevelopment project.

[contextly_sidebar id=”fLNIoAdXznDODQIRoyOBMb3P0cUbB6su”]The private developer and the KMA upon the supervision of the KTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will see a building belonging to the developer pulled down to make way for the project to be completed.

The Council also backed the KMA’s decongestion exercise to relocate traders from the Kejetia Market to Racecourse and other satellite markets within the metropolis.

Speaking at a meeting on Thursday, February 15, 2018, Otumfuo Kyeamehene, Nana Nsuase Poku Agyeman III emphasized that the Kumasi Traditional Council (KTC) was committed to supporting the Kumasi Mayor, Osei Assibey Antwi to pursue the development the people of Kumasi needed.

“I want to say clearly that no one is usurping the duties of the Mayor. The Mayor is humble and he knows his job very well. Members of the Council appreciate the development he is bringing to Asanteman. We are only supporting him to ensure Kumasi is developed and not doing his work for him. So those making such comments should be careful”.

He indicated that the Mayor was not struggling to implement his developmental agenda for the metropolis, but was only gaining the needed support from members of the Council (KTC) since development was a concerted effort.

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By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Kumasi Mayor, Osei Assibey Antwi, giving an overview of the Metropolis at a town hall meeting at Tafo Sub Metro, said the Metropolitan Assembly will present the petition on Thursday.

This decision comes on the back of series of floods recorded in the Metropolis in the past few weeks.

Osei Assibey Antwi lamented that “now whenever it rains, the whole place gets flooded. It was not like that from the beginning, when I first saw Kumasi waterways were not blocked, but now, we the elites have built structures in waterways, this is what has brought the calamity. But you cannot cheat nature, you cannot divert a waterway and expect it to obey you. Last time when it rained, it took the intervention of Fire Service Personnel to rescue some people, it is very awful.”

He added that, “now, it has come to a point where we must take action, and so all structures that have been built in waterways have been earmarked for demolishing. I will come to the Kumasi Traditional Council on Thursday to plead with you (Nananom) that those structures will be  demolished, so that petition from people whose structures are built on waterways will be rejected for the betterment of Kumasi.”

About 400 households were reported to have been affected by floods following heavy rains in September.

According to the Kumasi Mayor, major bridges and gutters have been de-silted to prevent any further recurrence of floods.

“We have been able to de-silt major rivers in the Metropolis, the river at Dichemso has been de-silted, Adoato, Adumanu, Mohyie Zongo, Abinkyi and many other areas.”

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By : Loretta Timah/citifmonline.com

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According to the association, the number of subjects pupils are made to study “are too much,” and this significantly limits the pupils’ ability to study effectively.

Vice-President of NAGRAT, Eric Angel Karbonu on Citi FM’s  Big Issue, said pupils in the country’s primary schools “have limited contact with literacy and numeracy,” which he said are the “fundamentals and the basis for understanding other subjects.”

“I agree with people who say that the number of subjects we do in the basic schools is too much. How many periods are allotted to reading on the kids’ timetable from class 1 to class 6?” he asked.

Karbonu  explained that “when you bring a lot of specific subjects, it reduces your contact time with literacy and numeracy at the basic level.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”D3NPzvBnIt7dvFdEMz5FDzJP8V2ESV6K”]The country’s educational sector has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks following the news that only 28.11 per cent of students who sat the May/June 2014 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) made grades A1 to C6 in six of the eight subjects.

A report carried out by the Assessment Services Unit (ASU) commissioned by the Ghana Education Service (GES) also revealed that 98 percent of primary two pupils in basic schools can neither read nor understand English or any Ghanaian language properly.

The NAGRAT vice-president admitted that Ghana’s educational sector is facing serious challenges saying, “it is a great concern…it is quite a very worrying situation.”

He was of the opinion that priority should be given to equipping pupils with literacy and numeracy which will “strengthen them to understand concepts in other subjects.”

Karbonu further recommended that a lot of time should be allotted to improving pupils’ ability to read which will consequently improve education standards in the country.

“If kids do not get their reading skills at the early stage, they are lost in the race of studying. In reading class, you need to have time and it will have to occur very frequently for the children to come to terms with the various words.”

Mr. Karbonu however blamed the size of the classes for the decline in the quality of education in the country adding that teachers are unable to identify and correct individual mistakes in the pronunciation of words in classes with a large number of pupils.

“Teachers have difficulty coming to terms with the specific and special needs of students in a huge class. This is very normal in urban areas.

When you have a large class, everybody recites the word in unison you will not be able to individually identify challenges and correct them,” he explained.

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Ministry on Friday met the striking NAGRAT members in a bid to talk them out of the strike.

According to NAGRAT, even though the outcome of the meeting was quite successful, the association would have to consider the proposals by the Education Ministry before taking any concrete decision.

NAGRAT began their nationwide strike on Friday due to government’s failure to pay them their 2011/ 2012 credit arrears.

According to them, government has also failed to address the discrepancies in the payment of the arrears, payment policy and the second tier pension issues of Ghana Education Service (GES) workers among others.

The Vice President of NAGRAT, Angel Kabonu in an interview with Citi News said his outfit “will do whatever it takes to ensure that workers manage their own pension.”

Regarding the transfer of teachers, Mr. Kabonu said the GES Director has instructed the regions to supply to his office by close of next week, information about all those who have been transferred without transfer grant.”

A meeting is also to be scheduled between the various teacher unions and the Ghana Education Service to discuss the modalities of payment for affected teachers.

The national executives of NAGRAT will also be meeting next week to deliberate on the proposals given them by the Education Ministry.

Mr. Kabonu disclosed that their decision will be made known next week.

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan

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They contended that the non- commitment of government to use dialogue to resolve issues affecting them had necessitated the strike.

Jacob Anaba, Regional Chairman of NAGRAT, announced this at a press conference in Sunyani.

He outlined one of their concerns as the poor handling of the Second Tier Pension Scheme of Ghana Education Service (GES) workers.

Mr Anaba explained that the National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA) handling the Pension Fund of GES workers, was not a fund manager, but their core mandate was to regulate the scheme.

“They have no business arrogating to themselves the work of Pension Fund Managers and be investing workers money in cheap investment portfolios.”

Mr Anaba said the attitude of NPRA and government had dire consequences, because those due to retire from active service next year under the new scheme, were likely to lose most of their contributions.

Another concern was the three-month arrears payment policy, a directive issued by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, stating that arrears beyond three months would not be paid.

Mr Anaba noted that the implication of the directive meant newly recruited teachers who worked for a year without salary would be paid only the first three months of their arrears and the rest forfeited.

He explained that teachers whose promotions and upgrading were delayed through no fault of theirs would be paid only three months, no matter the delay in processing their documents.

Mr Anaba appealed to GES to adhere to rules and regulations governing the staff rationalization exercise adding that transferring teachers without guarantee of their transfer grants, was an infringement on their rights, and stressed that transferring teachers without laid down formalities, allowed transfers at the discretion of headmasters and district directors.

“This will create room for abuse, witch- hunting and corruption,” he added.

Mr Anaba urged GES to call headmasters and district directors undertaking the exercise to order, until the system was sanitized and prepared for the exercise.

In addition, the GES and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department should iron out all administrative and bureaucratic bottlenecks to avoid undue delay, to ensure speedy processing of documents and validation of inputs.

Other concerns raised by the teachers were taking away tax exemption on cars imported by teachers, allowances for teachers in Colleges of Education, and the un-supportive nature of GES management.

Source: GNA

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“The one week strike commences on Thursday, 16th May, 2014 with the possibility of call off or extension” the association asserted.

According to the association, government has been deducting and remitting their pension contribution with its corresponding benefits to Ghana Education Service trustee at the detriment of its members accusing government, fair wages commission and the labour commission of acting in bad faith.

Addressing a news conference in Tamale, Northern Regional President of NAGRAT, Mohammed Saani Alhassan demanded that government must address issues such as the non-payment of the 2011-2012 increment credit arrears; maintenance allowance, matching redeployment and rationalization with all its benefits and payment of full arrears due to teachers who have worked for several years without salary.

He  expressed regret that all  diplomatic means of resolving problems has not been heeded by government and other stakeholders leaving them with no option than to embark on an industrial strike to press home their demands.

Mr. Saani Alhassan lamented over the current three tier pension has no policy direction and therefore will be detrimental to teachers who are expected to go on leave.

The NAGRAT Northern Region President also accused the security agencies of causing financial loss to both the associations and state for failing to provide security for their planned demonstration in Accra leading to its cancellation.

He noted the  mental, emotional and psychological trauma caused to Ghanaians and school children be paramount and therefore, the security have no business using the Nigerian kidnapped as a yardstick for the security to deny them their constitutional right to demonstrate.

By: Mashoud Kombat/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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NAGRAT earlier threatened to lay down their tools by May 16 if government fails to pay them their 2011/ 2012 credit arrears.

According to NAGRAT , government has also failed to address discrepancies in the payment of the arrears, payment policy and the second tier pension issues of Ghana Education Service workers among others.

The Association further planned to demonstrate to press home their concerns but the  demonstration was called off after the ban on noise-making was issued.

Already the Northern Regional Branch of NAGRAT have instructed its members not to report to work.

Addressing a news conference on Thursday,the Northern Regional President of NAGRAT, Mohammed Saani Alhassan  stated that government is dragging its feet despite the psychological trauma that teachers are going through.

“Leadership is now at the crossroads to continue waiting hopelessly for government to respond late or not to even respond at all or to lose the trust of our hardworking members,” he noted

In that regard, he remarked that the Northern Regional Executive have declared a strike to protest the government’s unwillingness to address their concerns.

“In view of the situation NAGRAT finds itself, the Northern Regional Executive hereby declares strike with effect from 16 May 2014 subject to call off or renewal,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has been holding closed door meetings with various stakeholders to discuss concerns raised by the Association.

By; Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana 

The post NAGRAT begins strike today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, the leader of the group, Mr. Propser Puo-Ire said “we do not say that the decision by NAGRAT to embark on a strike doesn’t make sense but we are opposed to the tools that NAGRAT intends to use to have their grievances addressed by government.”

According to Mr. Puo- Ire, the modes the Association is using to have their concerns addressed are quite “frivolous”, considering the fact that students are preparing for their Basic Education Certificate Examination(BECE).

“The issues that NAGRAT have raised and perhaps the modes that they intend to use to address the issue are quite frivolous and I think that there could be a better option than going on strike to have those issues addressed.”

He further stated that the intended strike will have a negative repercussions on the performance of  students.

“When we go on strike  and even our grievances are addressed, we will have to make up for the academic time lost when we return and it puts a lot of strain on the ordinary teacher in the classroom,” he noted.

In that regard, he emphasized the need for teachers to respect the vocation and show more commitment to providing quality education to students in the country.

NAGRAT has threatened to lay down their tools by May 16 if government fails to pay them their 2011/ 2012 increment credit arrears.

According to NAGRAT , government has downplayed it’s outstanding issues of non- payment of the 2011-2012 increment credit arrears, three months arrears payment policy, poor handling of the second Tier pension issues of Ghana Education Service (GES) workers, among others

Offering a solution to the concerns raised by the Association, Mr. Puo-Ire suggested that NAGRAT should engage in lobbying, negotiating and consensus building with government and other major stakeholders to address the problem.

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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NAGRAT has threatened to lay down their tools by May 16 if government fails to pay them their 2011/ 2012 increment credit arrears.

NAGRAT has tried several efforts to get government to transfer the contributions of the Ghana Education Service (GES) employees’ share of the pension contributions into the occupational Pension Scheme to be managed by a private fund.

Their efforts have however proved futile, as government has failed to transfer the contributions after four years of deductions.

The teachers have also raised concerns about what they say is the poor handling of their second tier pension scheme and the non-payment of transfer grants.

But the Head of Public Relations at the Education Ministry, Paul Krampah says the Ministry is already in talks with NAGRAT over their demands and so it surprising that the latter has decided to strike.

“Most of the issues they raised are issues being addressed by the Ministry in consultation with its stakeholders,” he said.

He further stated that the Education Ministry cannot be blamed for the delay since the Ministry does not have the mandate to pay salaries.

“The Ministry has not got the mandate to pay the salaries of its employees. The issues relating to payment of arrears actually fall directly under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry and what we as a Ministry have been doing is to facilitate the release of funds from the Finance Ministry for the payment to be directed,” he explained.

Commenting on the delay in the payment of the second tier of the teachers’ scheme, Mr. Krampah disclosed that the Education Ministry had written to the Finance Ministry to release funds for the payment.

“Talking about the GES Pension Scheme, the second tier, we have heard about it and what we did as a Ministry was to write to the Controller Accountant Department and the Finance Ministry to actually pay the arrears into the coffers of the scheme so all that we can do is to ensure that those who are responsible for the payment actually perform their duty. We don’t have the mandate to actually make the payment,” he clarified.

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Prior to the strike, members of the Greater Accra branch of NAGRAT have indicated they will embark on a demonstration on Thursday, May 15.

The intended nationwide demonstration is expected to be replicated in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region on May 27.

The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Christian Addai-Mensah, issued this threat on Wednesday May 7, 2014 in Accra at a news conference.

He accused government of downplaying NAGRAT’s outstanding issues of non- payment of the 2011-2012 increment credit arrears, three months arrears payment policy, poor handling of the second Tier pension issues of Ghana Education Service (GES) workers, staff rationalization and non-payment of transfer grants among other issues.

He said majority of graduate teachers were facing difficulties in paying back loans they collected from banks following government’s delay in addressing their financial constraints.

On the issue of pension, Mr. Christian Addai explained that “Teacher Unions have done everything humanly possible to get government and the National Pension Regulatory Authority [NPRA] to see to a peaceful resolution of these  issues but government has remained indifferent; we are reliably informed that workers contribution have become a cheap source of funds to government and hence the persistence in clinging onto workers money.”

He demanded that steps should be taken to improve data processing mechanism at the Ghana Education Service District Directorate, the GES Headquarters and the Controller and Accountant Generals Department so as to ensure speedy processing of salaries and allowances.

Christian Addai-Mensah also challenged the education minister, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang who was onetime a lecturer to be proactive in addressing teachers’ concerns.

Click to read full address by NAGRAT president

By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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