August 2022 Cost Of Living Allowance To Be Paid Without Arrears?

Following Labour agitations spearheaded by various Teacher Unions, government and Organized Labor signed on July 14, 2022 that they have agreed that 15% COLA starting in July will be to paid to all public sector employees.

The Cost-of-Living Allowances (COLA) will be paid in the month of August 2022 with an effective date of July 1, 2022.

The current information by GNAT reveals that the government has intended to pay August COLA without arrears. This was revealed in a message sent to all the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) members by management.

“UNION ALERT! Comrades, you are hereby informed that COLA will be paid effective August 2022”, the message indicated.

The General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas T. Musah, further explained further by indicating that after the August COLA payment, it will be left with five months of outstanding payments to be made. This includes the months of July, September, October, November, and December 2022. The message sent today 18th August 2022 by GNAT reads;

Dear Comrades, please after the August COLA payment, we shall be left with five (5) months outstanding July 2022.”

Tariffs Increment Vrs 15% COLA

Light bill increment is 27.15% and Water bill increment is 21.55%. With high inflation rate, will the COLA actually serve it’s purpose of reducing the burdens of workers?

The Wrong Analysis

Some people have analyzed and made the calculations as follows;

Light + water) – CoLA 

(27.15 + 21.55) – 15 = 48.7%

48.7% – 15 = 33.7%

The extra 33.7% will come from your salary to defray the difference. The above analysis is wrong.

The Right Analysis Of The Tariffs Increment Against COLA

27.15% increment in electricity implies that the current ECG billing system will be adjusted by 27.15%. So if Kofi currently pays around GHC100.00 as his electricity bill, he’d be paying around GHC127.15 in September when the increment takes effect.

21.55% increment in water also means that the billing system of GWCL will be adjusted by 21.55%. So if Kofi is also currently paying around GHC70.00 for water, he’d be paying around GHC85.085 in September when the increment is effected.

It means Kofi who’s currently paying GHC170.00 for both water and electricity will be paying around GHC212.235 cumulatively( water+ECG) in September.The difference is GHC42.235 due to the two distinct increments.

So if Kofi is also working in the public sector and his base salary is GHC1,500.00 , he’d receive GHC225.00 as his COLA due to the 15%. It means if he should take the effect of increment in tariffs from his COLA (GHC225.00 -GHC42.235) he would have GHC182.765 of his COLA left.

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Cost-of-Living Allowances
GNAT
Ghana National Association
Organized Labor
UNION ALERT