GNAT warns against illegal deductions from salaries
Members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality have warned the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) against deducting illegal monies from their salaries at the end of every month.
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According to the teachers, the CAGD had since January this year been deducting dues meant for the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) from their salaries although they did not belong to any of those groups.
The Ejisu-Juaben Municipal GNAT Secretary, Mr Agyin Frimpong, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic at Ejisu, said the illegal and unauthorised deductions had affected over 200 GNAT members in the Municipality, and vowed to demonstrate early next month, if the deductions continued.
He said the deductions, which ranged from GH¢6.00 to GH¢150 a month, was not only illegal but also unauthorised and was causing a lot of challenges to the teachers and their families.
Mr Frimpong appealed to the government, the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to intervene to avert causing any form of break in the academic calendar since GNAT would not be able to stop the teachers from seeking justice or fighting for their right in case they began the intended strike action.
He said although GNAT had been able to calm down the teachers, the association would not be in any position to stop them since they had done everything possible to calm them down for some time now.
The Coalition of Concern Teachers and Graduate Teachers Association are two other teachers groups which broke-away from the Ghana National Association Teachers to fight for the welfare of their members.
These groups also serve as pressure groups, as well as trade union groups which sometimes embark on demonstrations to drum home their demands or bring to the fore the challenges confronting their members.
When contacted, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Mr Kingsley Anyimadu Nyarko, confirmed the issue of wrong deductions in some schools in the region but said CCT had no hand in the issue.
He rather blamed GNAT for the deductions, saying some of their members were also suffering deductions from their salaries at the end of every month with the proceeds going to the GNAT, which he described as very unfortunate.
The regional chairman said due to the problem of wrong deductions, CCT executive early this month met with the CAGD and was hopeful the issue would be resolved by the end of the month.
By Felix A. Baidoo/Daily Graphic/Ghana