By: Emelia
Essumanba- Josiah- Daily Express
National
Service Personnel have resorted to demonstration to demand the payment of their
revised allowances following an announced by the outgone NDC government in
December 2016.
They
are agitated about the fact that an approved increase of their monthly
allowance from GHC 350 to GHC559 did not reflect in their January allowance as
expected.
President
of the National Service Personnel Association in the Greater Accra region, Kojo
Danquah said the personnel will hit the streets if talks with government fail.
“The
allowance was supposed to have taken effect January 1, 2017, we waited
patiently and we went to the bank at the end of the month, to our surprise we
were paid the initial amount of ghc350.00 which were paid to us over the years.
According
to Kojo Danquah, for the past three to four years there hasn’t been any
increment in the allowances of National service personnel notwithstanding, high
utility bills, inflation and high cost of living. He narrated that if there has
been an approval of increment then that increment must be given to out and they
are planning to meet all necessary stakeholders involved and if it includes
hitting the street, they will.
One
of the lead petitioners who called for a raise in the allowance and is currently
serving the country, Steven Senyo Tetegah said that the leaders of the
Secretariat and Government has disrespected and disregarded Personnel.
“We
Service personnel think that we have been disrespected and disregarded. There
was neither communication nor explanation as to the non- implementation of the
increment. It is not fair, no concern or care was attached to this by the
Secretariat and the Government. They could have called us to let us know this
was going to happen”, he expressed.
According
to him, they started a strong advocacy for an increment from June 2016. The
increment which they hoped would begin in September 2016 was scheduled for
January 2017; because by January 2017, the petition would have gone through the
NSS, the Fair wages and Salary Commission and finally to the Ministry of
Finance. So the processes were finalized and that was how come it was announced
in December 2016.
President
of the National Service Personnel Association in the Greater Accra region urged
all service personnel to maintain their calm as they are working hard to
resolve matters.
Comments
Post a Comment