Government has kowtowed to pressure from the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) who are demanding payment for a neutrality allowance.
After a meeting with leadership, government has agreed to pay the controversial allowance in October 2022.
Head of the Local Government Service, Nana Ato Arthur, disclosed this on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Friday.
This comes after CLOGSAG declared strike over government’s failure to pay the neutrality allowance after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in January 2022.
They explained that, the allowance which is 20 percent of their basic salary is for them to remain politically neutral.
However, leadership of CLOGSAG said incessant reminders and follow-ups to the Finance Ministry have not yielded any positive results hence the strike.
Reacting to this, Nana Ato Arthur said the concerns raised by CLOGSAG about the allowance is justified.
He explained that, government’s inability to fulfil its promise to pay the allowance in February 2022 is due to economic constraints.
But, the head of Local Government Service said they have had a fruitful meeting with CLOGSAG leadership and they have agreed the payment takes effective in October.
He also justified the payment of the allowance but the only challenge is the name ‘neutrality allowance’ given to it by CLOGSAG.
“Government has a challenge with the name given to the allowance so we are engaging them on it,” Nana Ato Arthur added.
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