3,200 teachers have not yet been paid – GNAT refutes GES claim

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has dismissed reports that more than 3,000 unpaid teachers have received their salaries and allowances from government after their credentials were successfully validated by officials.

The Association however clarified that, the 3,299 teachers are expected to paid be by the end of July, following the recent validation of documents.

The Ghana Education Service (GES), had said a number of teachers had been paid in June.

But speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of GNAT, David Ofori Acheampong, said the teachers are rather expected to be paid this month.

“At the last meeting, 3,117 had been worked on and it has been given to the Controller and Accountant General and the payment of this particular number will be effected in July, so I don't know how he said in June 3000 had been paid. It will be paid in July.”

“…So this month ending, that 3,000 will be paid. What we anticipated that ought to have been paid in June was paid in May,” he added.

CCT still unhappy with pace of validation
The news of the latest payment of arrears however brings little relief to the members of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), who have been complaining about the pace of the ongoing validation process.

The CCT has now announced that from next week, its members will wear red bands to show their displeasure at what they call the slow pace of the ongoing validation process.

GNAT maintains that the validation process has been progressive but speaking to Citi News, the acting President of the group, King Ali Awudu, argued that since the government Audit team ceased their offsite validation of the documents and moved to the premises of the Fair Wages Commission, the process has stalled.

“If by the close of this week, the green light to move the validation team offsite is still not given, we are going to ask all the affected teachers to put on red bands to school starting next week,” he stated.

In what is a unilateral decision by the CCT, Mr. Awudu further revealed that after this initial action, the teachers will be compelled to lay down their tools by the end of the month if their demands are not met.

“And if at the end of next week, they have still not been able to move the validation team offsite, we shall ask all the affected teachers to withdraw their services from the classroom.”

Why the need for validation
The Controller and Accountant General's Department is validating the documents of thousands of teachers, following demands by the various teacher unions for the payment of all salary arrears owed some 80,000 teachers.

The validation exercise was necessitated by claims that a number of the teachers in the country employed by the GES presented fake certificates.

According to the GES, out of 14,575 input forms that were initially submitted by teachers for processing and payment, only 6,268 were found to be attached with genuine supporting documents.

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