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CETAG Strike: NLC directs govt to implement agreed terms
The National Labour Commission (NLC) has directed the government to immediately implement the agreed-upon terms of the conditions of service with the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), as the prolonged strike continues to disrupt the education sector..
CETAG initiated the strike on August 1, citing the government’s failure to honor the NLC’s Arbitral Award Orders and the negotiated conditions of service since May 2, 2023.Speaking to the media, the Executive Secretary of the commission Ofosu Asamoah emphasized that CETAG should only conclude their strike once they have received official confirmation from the government that their demands have been implemented.
“The commission listened to both parties, the commission realised that the complainant, in this case, the government, has not fully complied with the directives of the commission.
So they have been directed to implement fully what the commission’s directives were, as in the payments of the monies that are due them.”Meanwhile, the National Vice President of CETAG, John Newton Kumi, has stated that they will only call off their strike when concrete evidence of their concerns have been presented to them.
CETAG members from all 46 training colleges have been on strike since August 1, citing the government’s failure to adhere to the NLC’s Arbitral Award Orders and the negotiated conditions of service since May 2, 2023.
Despite repeated notices sent to the Ministry of Finance, the agreed-upon negotiations have yet to be implemented, leading to the continued impasse.
In an interview with Citi News on Monday, the Executive Secretary of the NLC, Ofosu Asamoah, said that the commission would take the matter to court if the strike continued.
He said this was to compel CETAG members to return to the classroom, and that the government could also withhold the salaries of members of the association if they went on with the strike.
However, CETAG has also said that its members will continue to be on strike even if their strike results in salary cuts.
Source:Citinewsroom
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
