Maintain public interest accountability committee- TUC

Tamale, Nov.22, GNA - The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has reiterated its call on parliament to maintain the Public Interest Accountability Committee in the petroleum management bill presently before it to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of the oil revenue. The TUC said it was not clear what agreements government had entered into with oil companies as it suspects that some things had been shrouded in secrecy.

Togbe Adom Drayi II, the Head of TUC's Organisational Department, said this when he addressed the District Councils of Labour in the Northern Region in Tamale to brief them on issues of the petroleum management bill and the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) at the weekend. He said it was to forestall these suspicions that the Public Interest Accountability Committee ought to be maintained to ensure transparency and accountability in the oil industry.

Togbe Drayi also called for the removal of the stabilization clause in the management of the oil revenue bill since it could tie the hands of government and make it impossible to negotiate for better deals in the event of any future developments in that sector. "Even if there is a stabilization clause, the period span should not be too long", he said.

Togbe Drayi said there was the need for proper legal and institutional measures to be put in place to ensure the efficient management of the oil money and suggested that the money should be invested in the provision of education, health, road and other infrastructure. He appealed to the government to start building the capacity of the local people to take control of the commanding heights of the oil industry within a short period.

On the SSSS, he said the delay in the migration of workers unto the single spine was due to the failure of managements of institutions to map and migrate their workers to the new pay policy and not the fault of the Fair Wages Commission (FWC).

He said out of 80 organisations expected to be placed on the new pay policy only 28 had successfully done their mappings and had been migrated to the SSSS and would soon be paid their new salaries. Mr Abudu Iddrisu, Tamale District Council of Labour Chairman, said the delay in migration of teachers to the single spine was due to infighting among the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NGRAT) and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU).

He said GNAT and NGRAT did not understand why some categories of the non-teaching staff of the Ghana Education Service should be given higher or equal salaries with them. Mr Iddrisu said the FWC was however intervening to find an amicable solution to the problem.