‘Teachers should not suffer for someone’s responsibility’ – CAGD

The Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) has urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to expedite the submission of documents needed to process outstanding teacher promotion payments, saying affected teachers should not bear the consequences of administrative delays.

Head of Public Affairs at CAGD, Cephas Dosu, said the department has received fewer than 7,000 completed cases for validation, despite the number of promoted teachers being reported to be between 58,000 and 70,000.

Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Mr Dosu said the exact number of promotions received by CAGD has varied, but the documentation submitted so far remains significantly below the total number of cases being discussed.

“The quantum we have received is less than 7,000 out of the number,” he said.

He put the number of cases received at about 6,709, while stressing that CAGD needs the relevant promotion letters and completed input forms before it can validate and process the payments.

“They should bring the input forms and the promotion letters that they have processed as proof of what they have processed and will validate and pay,” Mr Dosu said.

He noted that the department was not concerned about the changing figures for the total number of promotions but rather about whether the supporting documents had been submitted.

“Well, we don’t mind about the numbers, but once you process them, give us the requested documents so we can validate and process,” he stated.

Mr Dosu, however, acknowledged the impact the delays are having on teachers and said they should not be made to bear the consequences of responsibilities that lie elsewhere.

“You know, it is sad that, I mean, a teacher out there will be made to suffer the consequences of somebody’s responsibilities,” he said.

He therefore urged GES to speed up the transfer of the outstanding documents to CAGD to enable the department to complete the verification and payments.

“And so we want to urge the GES to speed up with transferring those documents to us so that we can be sure of the processes they’ve done and pay them,” he added.

According to Mr Dosu, the verification is also necessary to prevent errors in the payroll, including cases where teachers who were not promoted are mistakenly placed on higher grades or promoted teachers are assigned incorrect salary steps.

“Because we don’t want a situation where tomorrow we realise that somebody who was not promoted has found his name on a system having been promoted,” he cautioned.

“Somebody who has been promoted and should be put on step two has been put on step five,” he added.

Also read:

• Kpandai pupils roam, play as teachers’ strike disrupts academic work

• CAGD processes and pays promotion arrears to 6,079 teachers