The country’s labor unions are upset by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department’s decision to suspend salary payments to government workers without a Ghana card.
One of these organizations is the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), whose President, Angel Carbonu, has said that the Accountant General’s caution is completely unacceptable.
According to Angel Carbonu, the decision is not only harsh, but also aims to deprive government employees of their right to be paid for their work.
In an interview, Mr. Carbonu said that the decision is totally improper and should be overturned.
“We have received a letter to that effect and I must say that it is displeasing, to say the least. In fact, we have what we call the workman and compensation principle. The principle states that once it is proven that the workman has done his job, it is the duty of the beneficiary of that job to compensate the workman. This penchant of threatening not to pay a worker regardless of whether the worker has done his duty to push through a policy is absolutely wrong, and it ought to stop.”
Without a Ghana card, government workers risk losing their salaries in December 2021. They have been given about one and a half month to register for the Ghana Card or risk having their salaries withheld.
The action is said to be part of the Ghana government’s efforts to provide government workers and retirees with a quick, secure, and validated payroll service while minimizing the possibility of undeserved payments or claims.
On the other hand, Angel Carbonu claimed that this is incomprehensible.
Additionally, he said that NAGRAT would contact the relevant authorities as quickly as possible to ensure that no member is affected by the order.
“If you want all Ghanaians to register for the Ghana card, why do you threaten me not to pay my salary when it can be proven that I have done the work that I’m supposed to do. So they want to disregard the work that someone has done over the Ghana card. What they are doing is to compel me through threats to register for the Ghana Card.”
“We will write to them and tell them to stop threatening us with non-payment of salaries that we are due. I am not against the acquisition of the Ghana card but the way they are going about it is absolutely wrong, so they should stop those things”, Mr. Carbonu stressed.
Meanwhile, the National Identification Authority (NIA) has supported the decision, saying that it represents a positive step forward.
Abudu Abdul Ganiyu, NIA’s Head of Corporate Affairs, provided the following information:
“These are conversations that have been ongoing with all other institutions whose services will border on Ghana card going forward. If you look at the L. I 211 of the National identification Act 2012, it provides 14 mandatory uses of the Ghana card so the controller and accountant general’s department come under the public or government services. So as long as they must prove the identity of the individual, it is the Ghana card that will be demanded. So yes, we are at that point where Controller feels that it is time that we roll out this particular aspect,” he explained.
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