GNAT Appeals to Kufuor on "Contract Killings"

Kumasi, Aug. 10, GNA - The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has appealed to President John Agyekum Kufuor to take bold and decisive action to curb the increasing spate of premeditated killings in the country.

"If the security situation in the country comes under such intense siege, then it is prudent for the President of the Republic of Ghana to exercise his prerogative powers to declare a state of emergency in Ghana to deal with the serious crime waves in the country".

Mr Joseph Kwaku Adjei, National President of GNAT, said sooner or later productive social activities might suffer due to the premeditated killings currently taking place in the country.

This was contained in a statement ahead of the National Council meeting of the association in Kumasi.

Mr Adjei said the current situation whereby the security agencies seemed to be unable to bring the perpetrators of such heinous crimes to book indicated that the criminals had adopted strategies that had rendered the security operatives ineffective.

"Such a situation definitely heightens the state of fear and sense of insecurity among the citizenry and that can lead to general social upheavals in the country."

He urged the government to go the extra mile to ensure a safe, healthy and peaceful social environment in the country. Mr Adjei stressed the need for the association to take a decisive step to forestall factionalism or sectionalism that was becoming the norm rather than exception in the association.

He cited the proposed formation of National Progressive Teachers Association (NAPTA) and said divisions in the teachers' front was not only chaotic but also acted as a drain on the resources both human and material, while at the same time defeating the collective objective of teachers, which was to ensure the provision of better conditions of service to members.

He suggested that any teacher or group of teachers who attempted to mislead members should be sanctioned in order to bring discipline into the association.

Mr Adjei said to ensure quick solution to teachers' problems a desk had been set up at the national secretariat of the association for members to direct their grievances and complaints for prompt attention.

He announced that the long-awaited used foreign cars GNAT imported had arrived and would soon be distributed to teachers who initially applied for them.

Mr Adjei commended the government for the introduction of fair wages and salaries policy and expressed the hope that the laudable objective envisaged in the policy would be achieved in order to bring to an end the incessant agitation of working groups who were trying to secure parity in compensation issues.

He said teachers demanded that the new salary arrangement would ensure absolute fairness and would not jeopardize the social aspirations and interests of teachers. 10 Aug 07