High court releases three GES vehicles it impounded

Kumasi, June 11, GNA- A Kumasi High Court has released three vehicles belonging to the Ashanti regional Education Office and the Atwima district education office it impounded about three weeks ago for contempt.

The release of the vehicles followed a memorandum of understanding (MOE) by GES to abide by the High Court's ruling.

It was signed by Mr Michael Kenneth Nsowah, Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in-charge of Quality and Access. The memorandum indicated that the re-engagement forms for the 11 dismissed teachers belonging to the Jehovah Witness Sect had been completed by the affected teachers.

The GES, it said, was now seeking clearance from the Controller and Accountant-General's Department to effect payment of their accumulated salaries since it involved extra budgetary allocation and that the affected teachers had been allocated schools and would start work as soon as clearance was obtained.

Payment of the accumulated salaries, which stood at 364.590 million cedis, the memorandum said, would be made in three equal instalments.

In 1987, Warrant Officer Class II, Kwaku Afoakwah-Duah, the then District Secretary for Atwima, ordered the GES to dismiss the 11 teachers for refusing to salute the Ghana flag, sing the national anthem and recite the national pledge at an Independence Anniversary parade. The teachers petitioned against their dismissal and on January 22, 2002, a Kumasi High Court gave judgement in their favour and ordered that they should be reinstated and awarded cost of 1.1 million cedis against the GES.

However, the GES ignored the order of the court and on May 20, this year, the court ordered the vehicles of GES to be impounded until the reinstatement of the plaintiffs and payment of their salaries and other benefits.