No cash for peacekeeping soldiers

About 70 Ghanaian troops who returned from serving in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan are angry over the delay in the payment of their End of Service Allowance (ESA).

The soldiers who were part of the Ghana Battalion (Ghanbatt 3) troops have not been paid since they arrived in the country from their UN Mission on March 3, 2016.

They were supposed to receive their allowance in South Sudan where they served but they were told the money would be paid upon arrival in the country.

However, since their arrival, the money has still not been paid and this is causing a lot of anxiety and agitation in the barracks.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that the Ministry of Finance is yet to release money to pay the allowance of the 70 soldiers including officers.

The ministry, the paper learnt, has no funds to pay the soldiers and is, therefore, struggling to mobilise resources; hence the delay.

The paper’s attempt to get Colonel Emmanuel Aggrey-Quarshie, Director of Public Relations of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), to comment on the issue proved futile.

Earlier, a Ghanaian contingent, numbering about 115 soldiers who returned on February 8, 2016, from serving in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, also complained bitterly about how their paymasters paid them their allowance.

The soldiers, who were also part of the Ghana Battalion (Ghanbatt 3) troops, said they were paid upon arrival in Ghana on the night of Thursday, February 18 under floodlight.

According to the soldiers, they were earlier paid half of their allowance after serving six out of 12 months in South Sudan.

They were expected to receive the rest after completing the whole one-year period.

However, they said upon completion of the one-year service, GAF paid each troop their $5,000 balance in lower denominations, which they said affected the value of the money after converting into Ghana Cedis.

The soldiers claimed they were paid in lower denominations in order to cheat them.

Some of them had to go through the hassle of carrying $10 worth of their remaining allowance in heavy bands and sacks to the forex to change the money into local currency since they did not have dollar accounts.

The soldiers also accused the Finance Officer of the GAF of using their money for private transactions and later breaking it down in smaller denominations before giving it to them.