Mr Bampoe – (CLOGSAG) boss
Ghanains have descended on the striking members of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) over their demand for neutrality allowance.
According to a section of the public, payment of such allowance is a waste of money since members of CLOGSAG are just pretending to be neutral.
On social media, they have asked government not to pay such an allowance because it will open floodgates for others to demand needless allowances.
Some are also asking government to sack members of the CLOSSAG on strike and replace them with unemployed youth.
Latest to join the public is the former Member of Parliament for North Dayi, George Loh who believes that persons who exercise their franchise by voting for one person or the other cannot be said to be neutral rather, impartial.
He questioned whether persons who actually vote can be neutral.
He said this on TV3’s Key Points on Saturday April 23 while commenting on the neutrality allowance being demanded by members of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG).
In his view, the demand is a bit odd.
“I had never known it exited until some news item announcing the CLOGSAG intended strike. When they talk about neutrality allowance, I said where is this one also from?
“Clearly, I don’t think anybody has any problem with being paid allowances, it is part of our standard employment nomenclature, various kinds of allowances are being paid to different people.
“But this one strikes me as a bit odd because I think that in this country we like to pretend about so many things. Who is neutral in this country? That is the first question you should ask yourself.
“When you say neutrality allowance, to what end? Can anybody be neutral? Can you be neutral when at the end of the day you walk into a ballot box and vote? Don’t you vote for somebody? We can start talking about impartiality but neutrality is something that doesn’t sit with me. I think there is a problem,” he said.
Members of CLOGSAG began an indefinite strike on Thursday, April 21 over this development.
CLOGSAG said it was noted that payment of the Neutrality Allowance they demanded had not been effected as agreed in spite of official reminders and follow ups to the Ministry of Finance.
By Vincent Kubi