Government accused of bad faith

Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Greater Accra Regional branch of the Health Workers Group (HWG) has accused the government of acting in bad faith in the implementation of the new salary structure for members of the Group.
It said the government had deliberately not shown the maximum commitment to resolve the impasse and should, therefore, blame itself for any consequences.
A spokesperson of the Group, Mr Nicholas Adjimani, therefore, warned at a press conference in Accra on Friday that any delay in the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) beyond this month, would not be tolerated.
He said the Group and the Ministry of Health signed the MoU on July 3, 2007 for the implementation of the new salary structure effective this month.
“Our sources of information indicate that as of today, September 7, 2007, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has not given the green light for the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to effect payment of the agreed salary,” he said.
According to Mr Adjimani, “any further delay in the payment of the agreed salary structure with regards to the MoU beyond September 2007, would not be tolerated by our entire membership”.
When asked whether the problem of the over bloated staff list of the Ministry of Health could cause a delay in effecting the payment, he said the Group was not responsible for dealing with ghost workers and should, therefore, not be used as an excuse not to pay them.
Mr Adjimani said the Group would put in place strategies at the end of the month on the next line of action to take, stressing that “a strike is a possibility. We are not ruling anything out”.
He said it was the conviction of the Group that members had been deceived for far too long.
He claimed that the leadership of the Group was sometimes accused of taking bribes from the government to go softly.
The Chairman of the Group, Mr Stephen Corquaye, said the government had dragged its feet for far too long.
He said the Group had even met members of the Council of State to resolve the issue but to no avail.
The three-point MoU, which was signed between the parties and made available to the media, noted that in view of the complexity with the process involved at the Controller and Accountant General’s Department in transferring the new pap scale to the payroll system, the agreed new salaries for the Group could not be effected at the end of July, 2007 as earlier anticipated.
“The new agreed salaries would instead be paid at the end of September 2007 by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department,” it said, but added that “the arrears will be paid effective January 2007”.
Based on the MoU, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, Lepowura M. N. D. Jawula, submitted a letter dated July 18, 2007, to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, for implementation.