The Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) has issued a new directive to all workers’ unions in the country to ensure that their members register and obtain the Ghana Card to avoid not being paid salaries effective February 2024.
A letter signed by the Deputy Controller and Accountant General and distributed to the unions said salaries would not be made to workers who do not have a National Identification Authority (NIA) number.
“We would also like to bring to your attention that, with effect from February 2024, payment of salaries would not be made to government employees on the centralised GoG payroll who do not have NIA numbers,” the letter reads.
Meanwhile, CAGD’s plea to NIA, based on a consensus with the unions, to conduct a special registration exercise for the government of Ghana employees has failed.
The NIA declined to conduct a special registration for the workers on the grounds that its offices in regions and districts across the country are open to persons who are yet to register and obtain the card.
It would be recalled that, in 2021, CAGD issued a similar directive but later suspended it due to public backlash. Graphic Online reports said CAGD reconsidered its decision following a high-level joint meeting between the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Ministry of Finance, and the leadership of organised labour.
The report added that CAGD had been tasked with porting the names of public sector workers in their existing database onto the NIA platform and thereafter informing the various institutions of any unregistered staff that may exist. It is unclear whether the porting exercise had been concluded before this latest directive from the CAGD.
However, the letter advised all those yet to register to take advantage of the December–January period to get registered for their NIA numbers.
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