WORKERS REJECT E-ZWICH PAYMENT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, May 09, 2016

Public sector unions and associations have vowed to resist government’s attempt to impose the E-zwich programme on them.

The Ministry of Finance has already announced that effective May 31 every worker on the government’s payroll would have to be paid through the E-zwich platform.

It added that workers who did not submit their numbers would not be paid.

However, at a news conference in Accra on Friday, the 12 unions and associations, which have come together to form a forum to fight for their rights, ridiculed the E-zwich initiative, calling it ‘Kakai’ which literary means ‘scary.’

They said they had asked the government to suspend it without delay.

Chairman of the forum, Dr. Isaac Bampoe Addo, who is also the Executive Secretary of Civil and Local Government Staff Association Ghana (CLOGSAG), said the leadership of the unions met the Ministers of Employment and Labour Relations and Finance, as well as the Controller and Accountant General’s Department and told them that they did not need the E-zwich programme.

According to the forum, the majority of public sector workers has encountered various problems with the E-zwich programme since its inception three years ago, while others have been frustrated by the system, saying “the attempt at a unilateral imposition of the programme on workers is heartless and devoid of consideration of problems being encountered by users.

“When did the responsibilities of an employer change to include the right of the employer to determine the proportion of emoluments that should go on a credit card and the portion that ought to be sent directly to the bank of the worker’s choice?” Dr. Bampoe Addo asked.

The forum said that the government was fully aware that most of the service centers for the E-zwich are dysfunctional and said “the desire to link with ATM service centers have not received total endorsement by the financial institutions,” adding “the attempt at the imposition of the Ezwich Kakai was untimely and without regard to the tenets of policy implementation.”

He said that the few workers that had complied with the government’s directive on the E-zwich had done so “due to threat of losing their salaries and it should not be taken a sign of success for the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.”

Dr. Bampoe Addo said at the meeting with the ministers, the forum stated unequivocally that the Minister of Finance should suspend the E-zwich programme indefinitely with immediate effect,” adding “E-zwich, as mode of payment, should not be made compulsory for public sector workers.”

“No worker’s name should be deleted from the payroll because the worker had not submitted an E-zwich number to the Controller.”

The forum comprises Health Service Workers’ Union (HSWU), Ghana Registered Nurses’ Association (GRNA), Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Ghana Physician Assistants’ Association (GPAA), Government and Hospitals Pharmacists’ Association (GHOSPA), Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anesthetists (GRCRA).

The rest are: Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), Judicial Services Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) and Civil and Local Government Staff Association Ghana (CLOGSAG).