'Arrest GES boss over fake certificates saga'

Teachers owed salaries by government are calling for the apprehension of the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) after it emerged that over 400 teachers were under investigation by the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) over fake certificates.

The Director General, Jacob Kor, announced at a press briefing in Accra that: “Ghana Education Service mounted a crusade to weed out the fake certificates and as we speak, we have gotten some fake certificates totalling over 400. In one district, we even have over 200 before the other distributions and they are still even coming in...”

But some concerned teachers have raised concerns that the GES Director cannot be innocent as the process of recruitment was under his watch.

A press statement issued on Tuesday 23rd February by the group bearing the signature of its secretary, Owusu Baffoe Daniel, said:

“We are calling for the immediate arrest of the Director General for recruiting teachers with fake certificates, and going ahead to confirm and upgrade them whilst he knows they are having fake certificates. Other than that, we are demanding an unqualified apology from him for fabricating lies in the name of ‘freedom of speech and expression’ to mislead the public and for defamation of the teaching profession,” it said.

In 2015, the GES began a verification process to fish out teachers using fake certificates in various parts of the country.

This, coupled with other reasons, has affected the payment of salary arrears for several months. Various teacher associations, including the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), issued notice of an intended strike if government failed to pay by the end of February, 2016.

The teachers are scheduled for a stakeholder meeting between government and the Labour Commission to find an amicable solution to the concerns of the disgruntled teachers.