Give equal pay for equal work done - Chigabatia
Mother arrested for abandoning baby
Adabre urges religious bodies to study Vision 2020 document.
Give equal pay for equal work done - Chigabatia
Accra (Greater Accra) 4 Nov.’99
Mr Smart Chigabatia, National Executive Secretary of the Civil Servants Association (CSA), on Wednesday said government should take measures to bridge the gap existing between civil servants and those in the public services.
He said although, the Price Waterhouse policy seeks to address the problem, their hopes were dashed after the implementation of the policy.
Mr Chigabatia, who was addressing a durbar of workers organised by the Greater Accra Regional branch of the association to brief members on what has transpired since September, said the policy ended up worsening the conditions of civil servants.
He said after careful analyses of the new structure, it was noted that those on level A18 to A77 are on a standstill, meaning these category of people are receiving their old salaries.
"This is unfair taking the present economic hardships into consideration", he said and wondered how the government expect these people to match up their meagre salary with the persistent increase of fuel prices, which automatically affects everything in the market.
Mr Chigabatia said since it is established in the policy that if two people are doing the same work they must receive equal salaries, the government must make sure that it heeds to the recommendations in the Price Waterhouse Report.
He called on the government to revert to the old pension scheme (Cap 30) to adequately reward civil servants for their loyalty.
"In every country, the employer has a way of rewarding its loyal servants after a faithful service," saying "the SSNIT pension scheme is their own money and there is no way that government can use that as a reward for their services".
Mr James Amissah, Regional Chairman, said the civil servants have been struggling for too long and called on the government to address their problems.
Mr Amissah appealed to all government officials, who have run out of ideas as to how to solve workers' problems "to humbly resign and give way to those with new and fresh ideas to tackle the problem".
The members later went on demonstration within the ministries carrying placards some of which read: ''Raise minimum wage to 15,000 cedis", "Price Water turns to O.R.S", "Civil Servants still demand equal pay for equal work done".
The association since the implementation of the Ghana Universal Salary Structure in June, said it violates the spirit of the memorandum of understanding they were made to sign.
According to the memorandum ''no civil servant is to be made worse off after the implementation of the policy'' but some of them have had zero salaries and others have been given wrong salary slips which indicate that they are owing the government various sums of money.
GRi../
Mother arrested for abandoning baby
Ho (Volta Region) 4 Nov ’99
Miss Emefa Egbadzor, a 22-year-old unemployed of Dzolo-Gbogame, has been arrested by the Ho police for allegedly abandoning her baby in a thicket leading to his death.
Egbadzor, who delivered the baby without any assistance on October 28, is alleged to have wrapped the baby in a black polythene bag and abandoned it in the thicket.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr K. K. Quansah, Ho District Police Commander, told the GNA that Egbadzor visited Miss Edith Kumah, her friend at Hoe, near Lume, in the Ho district, where she was given room to stay for the night.
In the night, Egbadzor went into labour and delivered a baby boy without calling the attention of her host.
Mr Quansah said when Miss Kumah realised that Egbadzor had delivered, she and her landlady went to visit her and the baby but they did not see the baby.
However, the landlady, who heard a baby's cry about 20 metres away from the house traced it to the thicket.
The landlady, Mr Quansah said, reported the incident to the chief of Hoe, who detailed some people to go for the baby but they could not find it.
When Miss Kumah and the landlady returned to Miss Egbadzor's room, they found her with the baby, who had died.
Meanwhile, Egbadzor is on admission at the Ho District Hospital pending further investigations.
GRi./
Accra (Greater Accra) 4 Nov. ’99
A Needs Assessment Team comprising NADMO and the international bilateral and multilateral donor community left Accra on Wednesday for Tamale to survey current flood situations in the three northern regions, Brong Ahafo and Volta regions.
A NADMO (National Disaster Management Organisation) statement in Accra said the team led by Mr Akwasi Owusu-Akyaw, Chief Disaster Control Officer, Operations, would also assess the extent of damage and the requirement of displaced and affected persons.
It said in Tamale, where they would be based, the team would divide into two groups and travel by land and air to assess needs of the affected communities in the areas of food, water, medicine and shelter.
Organisations within the donor community sending representatives and experts include the UNDP, WHO, Medicins Sans Frontieres, UNICEF, FAO, World Food Programme, JICA, USAID, Japanese Embassy, the Red Cross, and the NGO Consortium -Ghana.
The team would return to Accra on Saturday, November six.
GRi./
Adabre urges religious bodies to study Vision 2020 document.
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 4 Nov ’99
Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Donald Adabre has advised religious bodies and other development partners of the country to endeavour to acquire copies of the Vision 2020 document for study.
This, he noted, would enable them to determine the best assistance they could offer to supplement efforts being made by the government to develop the country into a middle-income nation as envisioned in the document.
Mr Adabre, who was speaking at the first Synod of Sunyani Diocese of the Anglican Church at Sunyani said, "the attainment of the objectives of the document will require the collaborative efforts of all".
"It is important that churches and other agents of development study it to enable them assist in its actualisation".
The synod, which is the first to be held since the creation of the diocese about 30 months ago, is under the theme, "the holistic development of the Anglican Diocese of Sunyani for the year 2000 and beyond".
Mr Adabre observed that one major objective of the document is the provision of quality service in health and education.
He said to help in the attainment of this objective and to eliminate waste, the various churches must find ways of coming together to undertake joint projects.
He said if they come together, they could for instance pool their resources for the establishment of prestigious private universities to supplement existing ones.
Mr Adabre implored religious organisations to help district assemblies accelerate the pace of development by encouraging their members to pay their taxes and undertake communal labour.
The Bishop in-charge of the Diocese, Right-Reverend Thomas Brient said issues of women empowerment, poverty alleviation and community development would be the major pre-occupation of the diocese in the years ahead.
GRi../
Accra (Greater Accra) 4 Nov. ’99
Nene Okumka Korboe III, Yilo Konor Gyasetse and former Regional Commissioner for the Eastern Region, is dead.
He died on September 19, after a protracted illness, at the age of 87.
A statement in Accra said the Gyasetse, known in private life as Mr E. H. T. Korboe, was the first Member of Parliament for the Yilo Krobo Constituency and the first Regional Commissioner for the Eastern Region in the First Republic.
He was also the Central Regional Commissioner until 1966 when the Nkrumah regime was overthrown.
The statement said the body would be laid in state on Friday, November 26 at his Palace, Sra-Somanya and buried the following day, November 27.
He left behind a wife, 20 children, 49 grand children, 23 great grand children and two great-great grand children.
GRi../