Soldier Petitions Against Slash In Salary

A serving soldier attached to Ghana’s Embassy in Egypt has petitioned the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs to look into how his monthly salary was slashed.

L/Cpl Joseph Ashong, who was attached to the Ghana Mission in Cairo as a cook/house help to His Excellency Gen. B.K. Akafia, in his petition noted that his appointment took effect in September 2001 and he was pegged on a monthly salary of $1,930.00.

According to the petition, with effect from January 1st 2002, there was a downward adjustment in the payment of his salary. For instance, L/Cpl Ashong noted in the petition that he was paid $449.88 from January to May 2001. The amount quoted was again slashed to $334.88 from 21st June 2002. He said when he complained, Ms. Khadija Iddrisu, Head of Chancery, told him that the difference was being kept for him. The petition also disclosed that L/Cpl. Ashong’s personal passport was seized by the Ghana Mission under the care of Ambassador Akafia.

The situation, L/Cpl. Ashong explained, was such that anytime he needed his passport, he had to go to the Mission for it. A case in point was when he needed his passport to open a bank account. L/Cpl. Ashong said he had to collect his passport from the Head of Chancery, Ms. Khadija Iddrisu. The petition was addressed to the Personnel Manager of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Meanwhile the solicitor for L/Cpl. Ashong, Maxwell Opoku Agyemang, has written to the Defence Financial Controller with copies to the Defence Legal Directorate, alerting them on the breach of contract and demanding that the situation be corrected and demanding that the situation be corrected or a meeting be called amongst all parties for an amicable resolution of the issue.