Civil servants appeal to gov't to stop mass retirement

The Civil Servants Association (CSA) on Monday appealed to the government to stop its policy of retiring and transferring public and civil servants.

The CSA said as a non-partisan association, which had served the government with loyalty and dedication, it found the policy of the present administration towards senior civil servants disturbing.

Mr Abdulai Amadu, Northern Regional Secretary of the CSA, made the appeal at a durbar of workers at Tamale, which was attended by some national executive members of the association to brief the workers on current issues affecting them.

He cautioned the government to exercise "great circumspection" in the retirement and transfer of officers so that the exercise would not be seen as witch-hunting.

Alhaji Yakubu Ziblim, National President of the CSA, said the association had completed negotiations on new salaries for its members, expected to take effect from July with arrears.

On the issue of the SSNIT Pension Scheme as against "Cap 30", he warned that the association would be forced to "advise itself" if the government remains "intransigent in reverting us to the Cap 30".

He said the Northern Region had 3.34 million cedis of the 5.5 billion cedis released by the government for the payment of medical bills for civil servants this year.

Mr Smart Chigabatia, Executive Secretary of the association refuted a front page story of "The Ghanaian Times" of Saturday June 23, which alleged that the association owed the Wa Regional Hospital 108 million cedis as debt incurred by its members for treatment.

He said if there is such a debt, it was rather the Ministry of Finance, which owed the hospital and not the CSA, adding that "the association does not handle the medical bills allocated to them. All monies are paid directly to the hospitals by the ministry".

He said the payment of pension to of retired workers would soon be decentralised to make it easier for pensioners to collect their entitlements.