Teachers To Mills: Sack Betty Mould Iddrisu

BETTY MOULD Iddrissu, the Minister of Education, appears to be in trouble as the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) has tasked President Mills to sack her as soon as possible.

The coalition said the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice needed to be relieved of her position because she had lied to them and the nation as a whole.

According to them, when they raised red flags after their April salary delayed unduly, Mrs. Mould Iddrissu came out to say the holdup was recorded because government wanted to pay all arrears due teachers.

But to their utter surprise, when they went to the bank somewhere last week, they realized that none of their arrears had been added to their salary as the education minister had indicated.

At a rally in Kumasi on Monday, members of the coalition who have been on the neck of government over abnormalities in their migration onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), called for the dismissal of Mrs. Mould Iddrissu.

They argued that the minister no longer deserved her position, since a minister of state was required to be truthful when dealing with stakeholders in her ministry and the nation at large.

The aggrieved teachers contended that the education minister raised their hopes unnecessarily with that promise therefore they were disappointed when it was not fulfilled.

They indicated that Mrs. Mould Iddrissu, as an education minister, ought to have done her checks well before coming public to tell teachers that their salary had delayed because of the government’s dedication to pay arrears due them.

The embittered teachers stressed that they would hit the streets to publicly express their displeasure, should President Mills fail to relieve the minister of her position. They also accused the government of doing everything possible to disintegrate the coalition through calculated intimidation and harassment targeted at its members.

The teachers alleged that government was using headmasters, circuit supervisors and other highly placed teachers in the educational sector to intimidate and harass members.

They noted that headmasters and circuit supervisors, who hitherto were in support of their struggle, had been compelled to thwart their effort by not allowing them to converge for meetings.

Due to this development, the teachers said they did not get the huge numbers they used to get when they met to take decisions as to the direction of their struggle.

In spite of this, the coalition leadership said they would continue with their struggle till government addressed their concerns and increased their basic salary and improved their general conditions of service.

The teachers embarked on another strike action last week but suspended it on Monday, following an invitation from the National Labor Commission (NLC) to meet them on their concerns.