A press statement from the ministry copied to Citi Business News, explained that “those affected have not been registered on the new SSNIT biometric system, despite several directives to do so”.

Mr. Ofori-Atta in his presentation of the 2017 budget, announced government’s commitment to clean the payroll.

“To that effect, the Minister requested that, the Controller and Accountant General on the 10^th of February 2017, inform all public servants on the Government of Ghana mechanized payroll system who had not registered on the new SSNIT biometric system to do so by the end of February 2017,” the statement said.

It further warned that, salaries for un-enrolled workers have been suspended indefinitely until the SSNIT re-enrollment is completed by the said workers.

This was after the February 28^th, 2017 deadline was further extended to March 31^st 2017 by the Minister of Finance.

“This directive will come into effect on the  April 2017 payroll. Consequently, those not registered with SSNIT, as directed shall be treated as “Ghost” going forward and shall as such be removed from the payroll for April 2017”.

The statement however added that “SSNIT is adequately prepared to validate any affected pensioner, across the country, who make themselves available to be counted and validated going forward. Several mobile enrolment kits are on standby to cater for affected pensioners who may not be able to travel to their nearest SSNIT district offices to complete the validation process”.

“These two directives, resulting in the identification of close to 50,000 “Ghost” names on the payroll and Pensions Registry, are expected to save the country some GH35 million in payroll cost on a monthly basis or a total of over GHS250 million in 2017 alone,” it added.

The Minister called on all citizens to help protect the public purse as Government commits to bringing “Ghana beyond Aid”

“Any real person whose name has been suspended can visit any of the SNNIT branches nationwide to be biometrically re-enrolled. SNNIT has set up enrolment desks within all their offices”.

–

By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

The post Govt to remove over 26,000 workers from payroll appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The driver, one Ernest Obri Lartey, in his petition, said the Chief Justice violated Article 146 (8) of the 1992 constitution with her handling of the judicial bribery scandal following the expose by the investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his firm, Tiger Eye Pi.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WKxvxecLDOKyDas3rkYxauXrecmMVbsu”]The petition recounted that she indicted the 34 judges and magistrates following the revelation, and subsequent petition to then President John Mahama for the removal of the judges.

The 34 judges were asked to respond to the petition, but Mr. Lartey said that before the indicted judges and magistrates could respond, the CJ published the contents of the petition in the media followed by the screening of the documentary detailing the revelation.

Mr. Lartey argued further that, the Chief Justice willfully violated the constitution because she discussed the contents of the petition from Anas with the petitioner before he submitted the petition, thus constituting ex parte communication.

This was after the Chief Justice had removed some judges from office for having been found to have communicated with one of the parties in a pending litigation, contrary to the conduct of the judges and magistrates in a 2005/06 case, according to Mr. Lartey.

“Since the Chief Justice finds Ex parte communication by judges and magistrate to be so grave that they have to be removed from office, she the Chief Justice should equally be removed from office for engaging in Ex parte Communication with the petitioner and eventually heard the same petition and made prima facie determinations. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.”

Claim of incompetence

To support his claim of incompetence against the Chief Justice, Mr. Lartey in his petition argued that “The Chief Justice’s incompetence is obvious when she failed to comply with the decision of the Supreme Court that any petition seeking the removal of the superior court under Article 146 (8) of the constitution. The Chief Justice sat in the Agyei Twum Case when the Supreme Court made the declaration yet the chief justice in this instance, violated the same Article 146 (8) of the constitution.”

Meanwhile, the CJ  has already announced that she will be officially retiring from active service in the next few months.

Some of the affected judges in the judicial corruption scandal, notably Justice Dery and Habib Logoh, are already in court fighting numerous battles against the CJ in a  bid to clear their names.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Driver petitions Nana Addo to remove CJ for ‘incompetence’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.