Youth in Afforestation Recruits Agitate for Unpaid Salaries

Some irate recruits under the Youth in Afforestation have expressed their displeasure at the Forestry Commission over unpaid salary arrears.

They are owed at least six months in arrears, Joy News Editor Araba Koomson reported Tuesday morning at Achimota headquarters of the Commission in Accra.

Already, their allowances have been slashed from GHS1,200 to GHS700. Despite the reductions, arrears have kept piling.

The youths are part of 20,000 recruited on a two-year contract to plant trees in forests like Achimota and Klagon in Accra.

The frustrated youths say their have adopted a more aggressive approach because gentle appeals to pay their arrears have gone unheeded.

The picket is a follow up on threats by the disgruntled workers issued in October after the Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie promised to pay in a week.

His most recent assurance was reported in the media December 4, 2018. But as state institutions prepare for the Christmas holidays, the disgruntled tree planters have given their demands another push.

Military officers have been stationed at the Commission.

The adoption of aggressive methods of extracting responses from public officials and state institutions has become a worrying feature of Ghana’s governance system.

Expect more updates.

---myjoyonline