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Tag: Ghanaian government

  • Ghana govt accused of not being transparent in its handling of corruption

    Ghana govt accused of not being transparent in its handling of corruption

    A political communication strategist, Dr. Kobby Mensah, has accused the Ghanaian government of not being transparent in its handling of corruption and other related activities that affect the country’s economic growth.

     

    He noted that there have been a number of cases pertaining to corruption under this government which have not been given the needed attention; something he reckons is impeding national progress.

     

    In an interview on Wednesday, he described as disingenuous claims by government officials that the current economy has performed better than it did under the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s administration.

     

    “The point is that when you have said, prior to Covid, that you had a very robust economy, you wouldn’t expect a deterioration within a very short period and that is exactly what has happened to us. These issues are not Covid related, are not Ukraine related. I can understand a part of the economy has been affected by these but what about the social issues, the other issues that are not within the realms of these particular realities?

     

    “What is the government’s answer to that? That is why they would talk about governance issues, they would talk about corruption issues because there had been a lot of references to which we have seen the government not pursuing, frankly,” he said.

     

    Dr Kobby Mensah entreated the government to be clear in its communication “rather than trying to propagate things that aren’t there.”

     

    He wants government to not blame entirely the economic woes of the country on Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine invasion but address issues of corruption.

     

    Additionally, he urged the government to account for the financial support it received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other global institutions.

     

    “When you are painting the picture, I think it is fair to the people to let the people understand where the difficulties are, and where you could have performed or you could have delivered and haven’t delivered and then be candid to admit that indeed you haven’t actually delivered on these areas and give us a roadmap on how these areas are going to be solved.

     

    “Currently, we’re saying that it looks like there is ‘dumsor’, the government keeps rejecting that there is no dumsor but people are experiencing it. Where is the transparency? Is there dumsor or not? Must people prepare for the worse?” he quizzed.

     

    Dr Kobby Mensah’s comment follows the recent report issued by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) which stated that there is a general public discontent with the government due to the rising prices and unfavourable public sector working conditions.

     

    It added that “dissatisfaction over high unemployment and perceived corruption will spur sporadic unrest, but political stability will prevail on the whole.”

  • GHANA: NAGRAT president condemns 10% deduction of teachers salaries over govt bungalows

    GHANA: NAGRAT president condemns 10% deduction of teachers salaries over govt bungalows

    President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers, NAGRAT, Angel Carbornu, has criticized Ghanaian government’s decision to deduct 10 percent of the salaries of teachers and staff of senior high schools occupying government bungalows.

     

    He noted that the planned deduction is unfair to teachers, given the meagre salaries they receive for their services.

     

    In his words: “The teachers living in bungalows in the schools are performing teacher duties. It is these same teachers who take our sons and daughters to hospital, and in doing all these they teach the full complements of their subjects in class.

     

    “No teacher is employed in the Ghana Education Service to become a housemaster. They are employed to teach subjects. So the house duties they perform are for free, so why do you ask them to pay for accommodation when they are offering these services for free?

     

    “The mistake we make here is that the accommodation condition rates are not the same and equal across the country. But when it comes to teachers specifically, we need to look at the details and understand the peculiarity of our job and look at the reasons teachers should not be charged for occupying the government bungalows.”

    The Ghana Education Service had explained in a letter that the said 10% deduction forms part of government’s efforts to streamline the anomalies with regard to the payment of rent for occupying schools or government bungalows.

    “I wish to draw your attention to Ministry of Finance circular No. 133385/05/06NTR CAGD of May 15, 2006, which requires that occupants of government bungalows are expected to pay 10% of their salary as rent,” the GES said in the statement.

    However, Carbounu asserted that the move is needless, as the expected revenue from deductions will be minimal to support the government’s programmes.

    “How many teachers in this country are even in government bungalows. All the bungalows have been sold to private individuals. And how much will government gain from this? It is much ado about nothing,” he added.