Retired soldiers seek Parliament’s intervention over gratuities
Hundreds of retired non-commissioned officers (NCOs) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) who were recruited in 1983 yesterday converged on Parliament House to seek the intervention of the lawmakers in their tussle with the government over gratuities.
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Led by their secretary, ex Warrant Officer Class One (WO1) Joseph Teye, the group appealed to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and the Interior to step in and ensure that all the money they claimed was owed them by the government was paid.
After picketing for some minutes, the group presented a petition to the committee, which was received by its Chairman, Mr Fritz Baffuor.
Mr Baffuor advised them to disperse and assured them that their grievances would be looked into and addressed.
Grievances
WO1 Teye told journalists that members of the group were compulsorily retired in 2010, at a time when the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) had taken off and the gratuities of soldiers were being computed by the GAF Pay Office.
He said when the money was disbursed, the group was shocked to find out that soldiers who had retired on the rank of Staff Sergeant and below received more than those who had retired on the rank of WO1.
According to him, the highest amount a retired WO1 received was GH¢33,008.34.
"We were later told that the anomalies would be corrected and what was actually due us would be paid when the computation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) for the GAF was completed," he said.
WO1 Teye said the anomalies were not corrected as promised and members of the group found out, to their utter shock, that the next batch of retired soldiers on the same rank (the 1984 to 1986 group) received their pension gratuities in full or took home higher amounts.
He said investigations proved that the 1984-1986 group had been paid based on the SSPP.
Although there had been minimal adjustments in their monthly pensions, he said, the issue of disparity in the amounts received by the 1983 group and the 1984-1986 group had not been addressed.
Years of service
WO1 Teye said members of the 1983 year group served a total of 26 years, 338 days.
However, the GAF Pay Office used 25 years, instead of the years they served, to calculate their pension benefits.
What is worse, he said, the old method of pension computation was used, instead of the SSPP.
He said although the GAF Pay Office had responded to the issue of the use of the old computation method, with the explanation that the order for calculation of their benefits came in 2009 when the old method was still in use, "we hold a contrary view".
"We were compulsorily retired on November 18, 2010, by which time the SSPP had taken effect, and not in 2009. Therefore, we disagree with the explanation by the Forces Pay Office. We demand a re-computation of our gratuities based on the SSPP," he stated.
He said petitions sent to the ministries of Defence and Finance had not been replied to, hence the decision of the group to seek the intervention of Parliament.
Committee meeting
As of press time yesterday the Committee had scheduled a meeting on the matter.
It was not open to the media.