The Tamale Metropolitan Assembly in the Northern Region has been deserted over the industrial strike by members of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG).
CLOGSAG is demanding neutrality allowance from government, and has vowed not to call off the strike until government agrees to their terms.
Their industrial strike has affected the various government institutions, especially the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country.
CLOGSAG members work as administrators, secretaries, finance officers and human resource officers among others within the various public sector organisations.
A visit to the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly by DAILY GUIDE showed an empty assembly premises, which on a normal day is an extremely busy environment.
Clients who came to the assembly to conduct businesses lamented about the extension of the strike, adding that it has really affected their activities.
They have, therefore, called on government to ensure that they resolve the outstanding issues with CLOGSAG for them to resume work and attend to their needs.
When DAILY GUIDE contacted the Public Relations Officer of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Mr. Amadu Mustapha Zakaria, he indicated that the strike is affecting the activities of the assembly.
“On a normal day, you would have seen people coming in and out, which means accessing one service or another, but the assembly has been empty since the strike started, and we don’t know when we are resuming, even my presence here is as a result of your invitation to speak to me,” he disclosed.
According to him, the assembly has lost some amount of revenue they would have generated if they were working and granting services to the public.
“Funds and correspondence we might have received from our partner organisations or even state institutions are all locked up due to the strike, so we cannot really sum up how much this has affected the assembly’s revenue generation,” he stressed.
He was however optimistic that government will reach a consensus with the leadership of CLOGSAG so that they could resume work soon.
“So we are only appealing to the duty bearers to engage the parties involved, in a way that we can get the best out of it, just so we can resume back to work as soon as possible (sic),” he added.
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale