The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has commended the government for paying attention to their grievances by its members and workers as a whole to exempt pension funds from the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) Programme.
On Friday, December 2023, Mr. Thomas Musah Tanko who is the General Secretary of GNAT, said payment of pensions as deducted from the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) is in arrears for 8 months and so government must ensure that the arrears are paid.
He also continued by showing gratitude on behalf of his members to the government for exempting pension funds from the Domestic Debt Exchanges (DDE) Programme. He added by saying that is the way to go and need to commend the government for that.
After commending the government, he recommended the government to also take the necessary steps that all outstanding arrears on the pension remittances are paid to the scheme consistently because they are being given a 3 percent haircut every month and if care is not taken, it will go a long way to affect the investment workers are making and how much they will take home when they are 60 years old.
After a stakeholders consultation meeting with the Organised Labour held on Thursday, December 22, government excluded the pension funds from Debt Exchange Programme.
Workers had agitated against the inclusion of their pension funds in the Debt Exchange Programme, threatening to embark on an indefinite strike from Tuesday, December 27.
However, the intention to embark on an indefinite strike had been ignored after the government addressed the situation.
The decision is contained in a memorandum of understanding made between the Government and the Organised Labour, Thursday, December 2022.
The MOU comes at the back of a meeting between Organised Labour, the Ministry of Employment and Labour relations, the Finance Ministry, the National Security Ministry, and the various stakeholders involved on Thursday, December 22.
According to the MOU, the decision to exempt pension funds shall be subjected to the government and Organised Labour working together to explore mutually beneficial options within the debt sustainability terms.
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