EC workers to be paid GH₵1500

The Electoral Commission (EC) has released the levels of allowances to be paid to temporary staff engaged for the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The 200,000 electoral officers engaged by the EC will range from GHS800 to GHS1500. He said the delay was due to the the failure of the Ministry of Finance to release funds to the EC.

Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu said, “Although voting in the 2016 elections is over, the processes relating to the elections are not over yet. There are few things we at the EC will need to do to complete, such as payment of allowances.”
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“The Ministry of Finance will need to clear or release the funds for the payment to be done but as we speak the money has not been released,” he said on Accra FM.
He added that, “We are taking steps to ensure the final release of the cash from the Ministry of Finance so we can pay. We have made some progress towards that and so they will be paid shortly.”
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Meanwhile, prior to the elections, workers of the EC demanded 50 percent of their salary as allowances for their inability to engage in social and political activities as staff of a neutral organization.

The demand was made in a leaked internal memo for negotiations delivered to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission in Accra by the workers of the Commission.

According to them, unlike other members of the public service, they are restricted in their social interactions for fear of being tagged political.

“There are certain public places open to all that employees of the Commission cannot participate since they may be wanting. The exercise of neutrality becomes more sensitive during and after the conduct of elections since we are most of the times perceived wrongly by our actions in the course of our work,” the memo said.
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The EC workers also demanded 30 gallons of fuel monthly for officers at the Regional Directorates and the Head Office who use their vehicles for official duties.