President Akufo Addo has directed the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to pay all outstanding arrears owed civilian employees at the Ministry of Defense.
The President said the outstanding arrears follow their migration onto the single spine salary structure.
Addressing members of the Ghana Armed Forces at Burma Camp on Friday, President Akufo Addo said government is working on reviewing the salaries of personnel.
“The briefs I have received indicate that not enough attention is paid to the concerns and plights of our civilians’ brothers and sisters, our families and our veterans. It is to them accordingly that I make these remarks. I understand that the fair wages and salaries commission recommended payment of three days’ work, representing 11.1% as additional allowance to the civilian employees as far back as 2011. The recommendation is yet to be processed by the Ministry of Finance.”
“The General headquarters subsequently sent a reminder to the Ministry of Defense, which has in turn on 22 May 2017 also requested the Ministry of Finance, to effect the recommendations of the fair wages and salaries commission on the payment of the 11% as additional allowance. The Ministry of Finance is processing that for execution,” the president added.
The President also said he has been informed that civilian employees within the Armed Forces are compelled to wear the prescribed uniform to work every day lamenting although government is supposed to provide them with the uniforms, the employees do it themselves.
Uniform allowances to be paid by August
He added that government is aware that it had defaulted in making such allowances available to the civilian employees for two months and will thus honour its obligation by August.
“I’m informed that, the civilian employees of the armed forces, unlike their counterparts in the public service are compelled to wear the prescribe uniform to work every day. The uniforms are purchased and maintained by the civilians themselves and the country receives GHc40 across board as uniform allowance. We understand that government is in arrears of two months which will be rectified in your August salaries,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo also told the members of the Armed Forces that their government is working on providing them with adequate accommodation facilities.
“There is also the question of accommodation and the expectations of civilian employees. These are all legitimate concerns of the civilians and they deserve to be treated with the same urgency as the concerns of their uniform colleagues. The contributions of the civilian employees are important to the success of the military establishment and these outstanding matters will be addressed expeditiously so that the enhancement of the morale of all segments of the armed forces can be achieved for the greater cohesion of the armed forces. We have to pay due attention to the concerns and plights of our civilian brothers and sisters, our families and our veterans,” he added.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
