CAGD suspends “No Ghana Card, no pay” directive
The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) has suspended the “No Ghana Card, no pay” directive.
The directive required that all public sector workers must register with the National Identification Authority (NIA) and obtain a Ghana Card or forfeit their salaries by 1 December 2021.
The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) has been tasked to port the names of public sector workers in their existing database onto the National Identification Authority (NIA) platform and thereafter, inform the various institutions of any unregistered staff that may exist.
The latest decision was arrived at following a meeting by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Ministry of Finance, the CAGD and the leadership of organised labour representing public sector workers on CAGD payroll Tuesday (19 October 2021).
Recipe for chaos
Earlier, a labour expert, Austin Gamey, warned of possible resistance in the public sector over the decision not to pay any workers who do not have the National Identity Card (Ghana Card), starting from December.
Gamey explained that the move will help reduce the risk of undeserving payments or claims in the public sector.
However, speaking to Asaase News’s Karen Dodoo-Antwi, Gamey said the rationale behind the directive to halt the payment of defaulting public sector workers is untenable.
“They belong to unions and associations. They definitely are expected to protect their economic and well-being. Even the employer is enjoined to protect the interest of the worker. And that being the case, as the law prescribes rightly, if you don’t pay him or her, they will make noise,” he said.
