The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has voiced grave worry over the government’s alleged refusal to pay obligatory contributions to nearly 700,000 Ghanaian workers.
NAGRAT President Angel Carbonu accused the administration of financial malfeasance during a press conference on Thursday, April 18. He especially mentioned the nonpayment of Tier 2 pension plan payments and other third-party deductions from July 2023.
Mr. Carbonu underlined that these payments are collected from workers’ wages but do not reach the targeted institutions. According to NAGRAT, this raises severe concerns about the workers’ future financial stability, particularly when they retire.
NAGRAT imposed a one-week deadline to the government, requiring the prompt transfer of any outstanding deductions to the proper institutions.
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Mr Carbonu stated that failing to comply with this ultimatum may result in additional action to address what they view to be financial misconduct on the part of the government.
“Workers of this country have continuously provided invaluable service to this nation. But unfortunately, the government we serve has decided to take from the Ghanaian workers and the various unions what even belongs to them. Every month workers pay dues to their unions and these dues are deducted from the salary of the workers. Also, workers are supposed to be deducted money from their salaries into their tier two -pension scheme so as to safeguard their future.”
“Unfortunately, though these monies are taken and deducted by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department on behalf of the Ghanaian worker, the monies have not been transferred into the various institutions which are the destinations for these monies. And to give a clear example of the situation, the last time the government paid any money into the tier-two pension scheme was in June 2023.”
“The way the thing is going, it is beginning to generate a large amount of disquiet at the labour front. The labour organizations like NAGRAT can no longer stay quiet to allow this financial malfeasance to continue. We want to state that by the close of next week Friday, all monies deducted from our members must be transferred immediately into the accounts of the institutions they are designated to be transferred to, otherwise, we don’t have any option than to embark on a series of activities to ensure that the right thing is done. ”
