The President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), RevIsaac Owusu, has reiterated its demand for the government to pay the 20 per cent Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).
It added that GNAT still stood by its June 30 deadline, given to the government to meet its demand.
“Yesterday, I and the General Secretary went to meet some members and we were chased out because they feel we are not doing enough,” Rev Owusu said.
“For this reason we want the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations to note that we still stand by the June 30 deadline we have given to the government,” he added.
Rev Owusu was speaking at the GNATInvestment Forum on the theme “Ghana’s Workers Pension; Challenges and Solutions for Growth in the Next Decade” in Accra yesterday.
Organised by GNAT with the aim of providing a platform to discuss issues confronting members, the forum had in attendance delegates from all the regions in the country.
In his remarks, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Bright Wireko-Brobby, who represented the Minister said he understood how important the demands of GNAT was to the welfare of its members considering the current economic conditions of the country.
He, however, noted that the inability of the government to meet with the leadership of National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Coalition of Concern Teachers (CCT) in the past two weeks had delayed the process in addressing the issue.
Mr Wireko-Brobby, therefore, pledgedthe government’s readiness to ensure that all arrears owed GNAT and all other Teacher Associations were fully paid.
The Director General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, sharing his thoughts on the theme explained the importance of the payment of SSNIT Pension by contributors and implored workers to think of it as an insurance policy.
According to him, thinking about the scheme that way would help erase every misconception people had about it, adding that “the Pension Scheme was one of the best compared to all other forms of pension schemes we have in the country.”
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
