Suspend ex-gratia to Mahama, others – Labour unions demand

The twelve labour unions who are demanding the payment of their tier two contributions, have called on the Akufo-Addo government to immediately suspend the payment of all ex-gratia to members of the immediate past NDC government.

According to the unions, the Mahama-led administration failed to pay their tier two contributions into their registered schemes, and thus wants the Nana Addo government to suspend benefits for members of the previous administration, until contributions for the labour unions have been duly transferred.

The aggrieved unions include the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the Ghana National Association Teachers(GNAT), and the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana.

The Spokesperson for the unions, Dr. Isaac Bampoe-Addo, who spoke to Citi News, said, “What we've been asking for is that, the temporary pensions fund at the Bank of Ghana should be audited, we are in 80 months arrears and this amount should be transferred to our custodian banks, and these are all issues we are going to take up with the incoming government. 90 months of our contributions have not been invested, and that means when our people go on retirement, they will have less amount for a lump sum.”

Dr. Bampoe-Addo said the Akufo-Addo government must not pay the recently-past administration its ex-gratia at least until pension issues are adequately addressed.

“We are pleading with the Nana Akufo-Addo government that the ex-gratia of the past government and our arrears should be paid before theirs are paid. They [ex-government officials] should also experience the 'arrears syndrome' and know how it feels like. So far, we have about 7 years of our monies in arrears. The monies should be held – the first to come, must be the first to be served.”

The labour unions in November 2016 threatened to embark on a strike over the matter, but were given assurances by government that their concerns would be addressed.

Seth Tekper, now the former Minister of Finance in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show, also said the Auditor General was validating the pension to enable their fund managers receive the monies on their behalf.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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