REMOVE SOTTIE...Say aggrieved civil servants (SPREAD)

AGGRIEVED civil servants in the Ashanti Region have called for the dismissal of the Controller and Accountant-General, claiming that he is incompetent and inefficient.
At a press conference in Kumasi last Monday, members of the Ashanti Regional branch of the Civil Servants Association (CSA) said the inability to pay the salary arrears of Civil Servants since October 2006 was the result of the controller’s incompetence and cautioned that his continued stay in office could trigger a major industrial action in the country.
They further said any attempt by the controller to make any deductions from the salary arrears before payment could present the new government with its first labour unrest.
The members argued that in October 2006, the Controller and Accountant-General decided to phase out the old payroll and introduce a new one and since then there had been disparities in salaries of workers which had adversely affected their standard of living.
Speaking on behalf of the association, the Regional Chairman, Mr Kwame Asamoah-Dwomoh, noted that last year they signed a memorandum of understanding with the government on salary negotiations, which stated that salary increase should effect from January 2008, but its implementation started in July 2008, and the arrears from January to June 2008 be paid in January 2009.
He pointed out that at the end of January 2009, however, the arrears did not reflect on the pay vouchers of members, and when they contacted the Controller and Accountant-General they were made to believe that the arrears were going to be paid by the middle of February, 2009, but they did not reflect in their salary as assured.
Mr Asamoah-Dwomoh said the Controller and Accountant-General used technical grounds as the reason for the failure to pay the salary arrears, and following a meeting arranged between the National Council of the CSA and the Controller and Accountant-General, it was agreed that the arrears should be paid at the end of March, together with the March salary.
He said it was also agreed that a “sample of March salary payslip shall be ready by March 11 2009, but when the sample was ready as agreed, it was realised that major deductions had taken place on almost all the sample payslips given to us”.
He said when the office of the Controller and Accountant-General was contacted for explanation, they were told that “there had been an overpayment previously, hence the deductions”.
He said at a previous meeting with the Controller on March 2, 2009, it was made clear that “all such deductions were completed in October and December 2008” and, therefore, wondered “why the payment of the arrears should be effected with any such deductions”.
Mr Asamoah-Dwomoh said with the present circumstances, the Controller and Accountant-General has proved to be incompetent in handling sensitive issues and, therefore, stressed the need for the government “to order his employee to pay the March salary with the six months arrears without any deductions before it is too late”.
When contacted, the Controller and Accontant- General, Mr Christain Sottie, denied any knowledge of the allegations being made by the civil servants.