Some health workers have bared their teeth at the government over the non-payment of their salaries and other arrears due them.
The Coalition of unpaid Nurses and Midwives-Ghana in a letter to the President, John Dramani Mahama threatened to sue government by the end of November, 2014 if their monies are not paid.
Read a copy of the letter below:
COALITION OF UNPAID NURSES AND MIDWIVES – GHANA
TUESDAY, 28 OCTOBER, 2014
The Office of the President
Flagstar House
Ghana
The President,
FORMAL PETITION FROM THE COALITION OF UNPAID NURSES
We, as members of the above named group comprising of aggrieved Registered General Nurses (RGN), Registered Midwives (RM), Registered Mental Nurses (RMN), Registered Community Nurses (RCN), Enrolled Nurses (EN), Certified Community Nurses (CCN) across the country write to inform you, the president, about our decision to sue the Government of Ghana by the end of November (30th November, 2014), if our salaries and arrears due us are not fully paid by that time.
Mr President, it may interest you to know that members of this group who are all qualified staffs have been working for so long a time with least and longest duration being six months and eighteen months respectively without salaries. What is even more worrisome is the fact that the government has started scrapping the monthly internship allowance which is our only source of livelihood (Ref: D12 NTC Agogo, September 2014 and other Nursing schools) which have brought untold hardship to us, so we ask how then do we even survive at the first place? What then happens to our fundamental human rights as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana? We thought the government is rather mandated to protect those rights and not to infringe upon them as it is being done now.
The explanation given for the scrapping of the internship allowance is that we are now full-fledged staffs and no longer interns. That is exactly so since we are all permanent staffs now but one would have thought that the allowances would have to be scrapped after we have all been upgraded to our full salary statuses but unfortunately, this is not the case.
The poor nurse/ midwife is required to work up to standard but peradventure something untoward happens, say negligence of duty or malpractice, this nurse/midwife would be dealt with accordingly irrespective of the fact that his/her salaries are not paid him/her and that hunger, psychological and emotional instability could account for his/her negligence and malpractice (Refer to WHO definition of Health). This simply means that our role as nurses/midwives in health delivery is non-negotiable so it is quite fascinating that our salaries and arrears due us seem to be something that must be negotiated and or justified.
Information gathered so far shows that not even a single person who has successfully filled and submitted the clearance form (a form designed to be used in the payment of salary arrears) has been paid, and no authority has been able to state emphatically when they will be paid.
Mr President, after months of unsuccessful attempts to get us paid, and upon serious deliberations between the National Coordinator and all the ten Regional Representations, the following conclusions were drawn:
- That the government must pay all salaries and outstanding arrears due us by 30th November, 2014.
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That failure by government to meet the above stated deadline means heading to the law court to seek redress.
We thank you for your time and attention.
Signed
Asare Danquah Jefferson
National Coordinator
0202646260/0541849806
apostlejeff302@gmail.com
Regional reps:
Adu – Fokuo Douglas – 0507126991 – Greater Accra
Newman Eli Kumah – 0207923839 – Ashanti
Adams Obed – 0202160047 – Northern
Theophilus Doh – 0242276258 – volta
Patrick Abbey – 0247978436 – Brong Ahafo
Asako Thomas – 0506224842 – Upper East
Janet Aba Saah – 0206715065 – Eastern
Anita Asante – 0242863181 – Central
Aboagye Dorothy – 0247299948 – Western
Cc:
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Employment
Ministry of Finance
Attorney General Department
Parliamentary Select Committee on Health
Labour Commission
Director General – MOH
All Regional Ministers
