Electoral officers chase EC for protracted arrears

While a section of the public chides the Electoral Commission (EC) for releasing what it says are “erroneous results” for the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, pressure is being mounted on the body to redeem its image by paying the allowances of persons they contracted for the voters registration/exhibition exercise whose services were also engaged on the election day.

In July, some registration officials accused the EC of cajoling them into accepting to serve as officers at various registration centres with the promise of giving them appreciable remuneration only to be disappointed weeks into the exercise. According to the dissatisfied officer, they expected better figures considering how they have had to risk their lives at a time coronavirus is fast-spreading.

After a GhanaWeb publication on the concerns raised, the EC in a memo to Regional Directors stated the approved rates for various categories of officials and instructed strict compliance. As evident in the memo, Laminators are expected to be paid an amount of GH¢75 per day while Data Entry Clerk and Registration Officers are to be paid GH¢90 and GH¢100 per day respectively.

The EC also noted that monies have been allocated to cater for the transport fares of officials.

Having failed to fulfil its financial obligation as promised, the personnel in September, vowed to not show up at the exhibition centres. A publication in that regard pushed the EC to again released a statement announcing to the officials that payment had begun. But some of the officers tell GhanaWeb they are yet to receive what is due them.

According to the irate personnel, neither the transportation allowance which was supposed to be paid in July nor the stipends for the exhibition exercise in September has been issued.

They are demanding the Commission pays the aforementioned arrears together with what they are supposed to receive for the services they rendered during the December 7 polls.

“It’s been more than three months. This is not pleasant at all. The EC hasn’t paid our transportation fare for the registration exercise. Our remuneration for the exhibition exercise has also not been paid. How fair is this,” one told GhanaWeb.

“We want the EC to pay us before Christmas. We need to enjoy after all the stress we’ve been through. We can’t have a dry Christmas. We stayed awake a day before the election, the election day and even after declaration. We are not happy. They should do the needful,” another said.

“I am a Deputy Returning Officer. The EC contracted us for three months and allocated the old rate. They contracted the key trainers for two months. They agitated that the GH¢2,000 being given them was inadequate and it was increased to GH¢4,000. Another protest was staged and it was increased to GH¢6,000. Our duties were more than the key trainers. In fact, they are subordinates; so, if they had about 50% increment, we should also be smiling,” another added.