Three
teachers unions have called off their strike action following a court order.
A
statement issued and signed by the General Secretary of Ghana National
Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas T. Musah, said the decision by the unions
to call off the strike was arrived at on the advice of their lawyers in
consequence to a court order of Wednesday, December 11.
“We
hereby wish to inform all our members to call off the nationwide strike action
forthwith,” the statement urged, adding “our next line of action would be
communicated to the rank and file in due course.”
The
three unions — Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT),
Ghana National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of
Concerned Teachers (CCT-Gh) — recently declared a
strike over unpaid arrears between 2012 and 2016 when Mahama and his NDC were
in power which the teachers have termed ‘Legacy Debt’.
On
Wednesday, the government released GH¢49,998,626.72 for the settlement of the outstanding
for the teachers.
The
Ministry of Finance ordered the Controller and Accountant General’s Department
(CAGD) to release the stated amount to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to the
affected teachers.
A
correspondence dated December 11, 2019 signed by the Deputy Finance Minister,
Abena Osei Asare, said, “You (CAGD) are hereby authorised to release the sum of
GH¢49,998,626.72 to enable the
Director-General, Ghana Education Service, to pay outstanding transfer grants
and other allowances to qualified staff of GES.”
The
government gesture follows a strike action by teachers in the folds of the
Ghana National Association of Graduate Teachers, Ghana National Association of
Teachers and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers as a means of piling pressure
to have their arrears settled.
The
three teachers unions had insisted they would return to the classroom until
their demands were met in spite of a directive from the National Labour
Commission to do so immediately.
The monies being demanded by the teachers unions were incurred from John Mahama and his NDC days, a GES statement had explained earlier.
BY Melvin Tarlue
