E/R: Official Vehicles Of GES Director, Accountant Seized Over Judgement Debt Won By Aggrieved Teachers

The official vehicles of the Eastern Region Director of Education and that of the regional accountant have been impounded to defray judgment debt on 102 teachers.

The vehicles are yet to be auctioned to settle the judgment debt as the bailiff makes effort to get 17 more vehicles marked by the court to be impounded.

 

The 20 vehicles, when impounded and later auctioned, would settle the GH¢3,471,240.72 judgment debt on the 102 teachers and educational workers.

So far, only three vehicles have been impounded; that of the regional education director, accountant and the Birim Central Municipal Director of the Ghana Education (GES).

 

 

In an interview with the General Secretary of the group of 102 teachers and educational workers, Isaac Amponsah, he explained that they were recruited and given appointment letters to teach and work between 2011 to 2013.

But they only began receiving salaries in 2016 after several agitations.

 

Efforts to get their arrears paid proved futile after several behind-the-scene negotiations with the GES leadership in the Eastern Region.

They, therefore, decided to take the matter to court when they realised the management of GES in the Eastern Region was not ready to help them.

“We are more then 102 from across the Eastern Region,” Mr Amponsah said.

 

 

“It’s just that we have been bold enough to get a lawyer to pursue the case for us.”

He added that GES’s promises of paying the arrears have failed.

 

“Our year of recruitment has been cut off from the Accountant and Controller document [and] it means me, for instance, I have lost three years of service without pay and SSNIT benefit. This is not fair. I left Accra to a village to go and teach for three years without pay? We just need our money.”

Judgement was passed last year by the supervising High Court judge, Justice Gifty Dekyem, of the Koforidua High Circuit 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In December last year, a letter was written to the Eastern Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service to give police protection to bailiffs to execute writ of Fieri Facias to the plaintiff on the mentioned vehicles belonging to GES.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the statement from the GES

 

 

 

RE: GES VEHICLES SEIZED FOR NON PAYMENT OF SALARIES

 

1. Before 2017, some people were recruited into GES without Financial Clearance from Ministry of Finance.
2. These recruitments were done at the District and Regional offices without recourse to the Headquarters.
3. In 2017, upon an appeal to government through the Minister for Education, the Government decided that the appointments should be formalised and the GES through the MoE applied for Financial Clearance from MoF.
4. The Financial Clearance granted by the Ministry of Finance, was with effect from 2017.
5. The affected staff agreed in principle that they could only be paid from 2017 based on the Financial Clearance.
6. All the people involved were therefore issued fresh appointment letters which took effect from 2017.
7. They have since been mechanised and have been receiving their regular salaries.
8. In spite of the agreement some of the them decided to go to court to claim salaries for work done before 2017.
9. The court ruled in their favour leading to the seizure of Three GES Vehicles in Eastern Region.
10. GES has since retrieved the three vehicles and discussions are going on as to how to pay the judgement debt.
11. The matter is being handled by the Attorney- General’s Department in Koforidua.
12. Full and detailed statement on the matter will be issued in due course.

SIGNED
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE
GES