Workers demonstrate to back demand for restoration of Cap-30

Assin Foso (C/R), Feb. 19, GNA- About 500 workers including Civil and Public servants on Tuesday went on a peaceful two-hour demonstration to back their demand for the restoration of the Cap 30 pension scheme. The carried placards some of which read "we need Cap 30 without further delay" and "no Cap 30 no votes".

They wore red bands and went on a procession through the streets of the town and later converged at the District Assembly where they presented a petition to the President through Mr Kwabena Karikari Apau, the District Chief Executive (DCE).

Mr Joshua Aidoo, District Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), presented the petition. The petition said some workers were enjoying cap 30 while others were on the SSNIT scheme, describing the situation as discriminatory and arbitrary.

It said the continued placement of some workers on the SSNIT scheme was devoid of logic and contradicted the fundamental principles of equity, distributive justice, fairness and human rights.

The petition made reference to earlier memoranda sent by the national joint consultative forum to parliament in March 2002 and its subsequent redirection to the Minister of Justice in April of the same year, saying the Ministry failed to respond.

It argued that before 1972, all public sector employees were on the cap 30 but the Acheampong regime abolished it without any consultation with workers.

Mr Apau promised to channel their concerns to the "appropriate quarters".

He urged the workers to also work hard to justify their incomes, saying the low performance of some schools in the area could be partly attributed to the non-performance of some teachers. The DCE said the fact that they had been able to demonstrate publicly without any harassment was an indication of the type of "democratic governance" the NPP government was practising in the country.