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27.04.2015 Headlines

GRA IN TURMOIL As Senior Officers Agitate Over Promotions

By Christian Kpesese
GRA IN TURMOIL As Senior Officers Agitate Over Promotions
27.04.2015 LISTEN

There is a mounting tension within the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as senior officers kept expressing very grave concerns over the manner in which junior officers were promoted over them. Most of the senior officers who were last promoted in 2008 are raising very damming allegations against management over what they described as their taste for cronyism, nepotism and favoritism as exhibited in the promotion of juniors over seniors against laid down procedures.

It is a very difficult thing for the affected officers to comprehend how junior ranks could become their seniors all of a sudden without due to somebodies selfish interest.

The aggrieved senior staff disagreed with claims by management that there are no vacancies to absorb all who are due for promotions.

Most juniors who were last promoted in 2010 were again promoted over the seniors when they were all lumped up together with the seniors who were last promoted in 2008 and 2009 to sit for the same promotion exams against laid down rules of promotions.

Management of GRA took the decision to lump the three categories even though the workers union protested against the discrepancy that may result as a result of the exercise.

The affected officers say they suspected something went wrong and threatened to expose the wrong doings within the GRA if no immediate actions are taken to correct it.

``we will expose them if they do not do the right thing because it is negatively affecting revenue collection for the country and the entire image of the GRA’’ one officer said angrily.

The Commissioner General has been accused of an alleged autocracy as he defied the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations directive that, seniors be given preference in promotion based on the authority`s own guidelines.

The Officers who spoke to The Insight with a lot of bitterness could not understand why their promotion rights as a result of long years of dedicated service to the nation should be denied them on the platter of whom you know within the service.

According to them, they deserve the promotions they are seeking for because it is rightfully due them.

`` It is not a favour we are seeking for from anybody, the promotions are our rights per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, we will not allow anybody to take it from us’’ they said.

The officers challenged the management of the Ghana Revenue Authority to operationalize the motto of the authority which is; Fairness, Integrity and Service in the promotion of officers who genuinely deserve.

The management of GRA in September, 2014 held a promotional course for staff who were went through a similar exercise in 2008 together with those who benefited in 2009 and 2013.

This was against a petition by the leadership of the workers that the exercise if combined would pose tremendous problems.

The resultant effect of the combined promotion was that, a junior officer who was part of the 2010 promotion automatically now becomes a senior to the officer who was part of the 2008 promotions but was not promoted in 2014.

These has resulted in a lot of frustrations and uneasy tension in the authority because the affected officers finds it difficult to understand why the new trend.

Management they said has remained very adamant to correct the anomaly in order to restore calm to the GRA.

The officers also gave a hint of resorting to the law court to seek justice.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) reached between management and unions of the GRA under the chairmanship of the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Hon Haruna Iddrisu to resolve the impasse has failed to yield any fruitful results.

The affected officers say management is reluctant to implement the dictates of the MoU which requires that preference is given to seniority when promotions are being done in line with laid down regulations.

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