Chigabatia answers critics

Wa, April 13, GNA - Mr Smart Chigabatia, Executive Secretary of the Civil Servants Association (CSA) on Tuesday told their critics that the association had taken to a more diplomatic way of doing things, rather than being militant because they were in a democratic era, with the constitution and the labour law as their guide.

"Some people say we are toothless bull dogs, who can only bark but not bite and that when others make noise, they get what they want but we can't make noise. Others go further to say I am not making noise because my wife is an NPP member of the parliament.

As the hub of the government's machinery, he explained that strikes and demonstrations by Civil Servants would make the country ungovernable and everything would collapse.

Mr Chigabatia, who was addressing the regional conference of the Upper West Regional branch of the Association in Wa, said teachers and doctors could go on strikes but it would be more serious for the country, if civil servants decided not to work.

Mr Chigabatia, however, warned government that, Civil Servants would be left with no option than take the route of militancy, if it continued to back track on agreed salary levels for members of the service. "We want to change things in a peaceful manner but we can show that we can also bite, if government continues to turn its back on what it promises us."

He said, the government promised that it would pay civil servants very good salaries this year, and they were expecting nothing short of that.

Mr Ambrose Dery, the Upper West Regional Minister, who opened the conference, told civil servants to avoid all acts and tendencies that impacted negatively on their work.

Government, he sad, was mindful of the low remuneration of the civil service, which had been pointed out by the President of the Republic on several occasions.

He assured civil servants in the region that he would meet with district chief executives in the region to see if they could design an award scheme.

Mr Dery called on the association to exercise patience and restraint and not to engage in acts that would jeopardize industrial peace in the country, while negotiations for salary increased in the service were going on.

The Upper West Regional Chairman of the Association, Mr James Dassah said the general poor infrastructure and deprived nature of the region made it unattractive to many civil servants, thereby, creating a lot of pressure for the few that accepted to work there.

It was not uncommon, he stated to find many departments and the newly created district assemblies in particular to operate without key essential personnel like planning and budget officers. This had created delays in the execution of projects and programmes and general inefficiency in the departments and district assemblies.