Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, Tema Mayor
GOVERNMENT APPOINTEES have
vehemently protested against the amount the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA)
intends to pay them as ex-gratia.
According to them, an attempt by
the assembly to pay elected assembly members higher than them is discriminatory.
They alleged that the assembly intends to pay government appointees half of the
amount they would pay to elected assembly members as ex-gratia.
Information available to DAILY
GUIDE indicates that the payment of ex-gratia would be determined by
the period served before the assembly was dissolved in September 2019.
The TMA has projected to pay
elected assembly members who have successfully served their four-year tenure an
amount of GH¢5, 000.
However, each government appointee,
including those who served under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime,
would receive GH¢2, 500 each.
Elected assembly members served
from October 2015 to September 2019, while government appointees during the NDC
regime also served from October 2015 to May 2019.
Their term was continued by
government appointees under NPP, from May 2017 to September 2019, before the assemblies
were dissolved.
The assembly intended to pay
government appointees who served two years during the NDC regime and those who
served two years in the NPP regime GH¢2,500 each.
The government appointees were said
to be angry with the Tema West Assembly (TWMA) where an amount of GH¢5, 000 was paid across the board
without considering the number of years served.
Some of the government appointees
have threatened to take the matter up while others have also threatened to
embark on demonstration to express their displeasure.
In August 2006, government approved
ex-gratia awards to be paid to assembly members who successfully completed
their four-year tenure and the payment was to be based on the financial
standing of the respective assemblies.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema
