Weeding gangs lock up Nkrankwanta CHED office over unpaid allowances

Correspondence from Bono Region

Weeding gangs employed under the cocoa rehabilitation project have locked up the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED) office in the Dormaa West District of the Bono Region over their seven months’ unpaid allowances.

The angry workers who stormed the CHED office at Nkrankwanta also deflated the tires of the official pickup truck and motorbikes parked at the premises.

The pickup truck and motorbike were later moved by the police to the Nkrankwanta police station for safekeeping.

According to the workers employed by the government under the Africa Development Bank’s (ADB) support to cut down the economic trees and prepare the lands for replanting, they have not been paid their allowances for the past seven months.

They disclosed that they resolved to lock up the office to press home their demand for the payment of their allowances because of the hardship they are going through on them.

Speaking to GhanaWeb, one of the affected workers, Asamoah Johnson, indicated that their action was motivated by the insensitiveness on the part of their employer.

He reiterated that they have for the past months worked through thick and thin in the fulfillment of their contractual agreement but their efforts have not been rewarded in terms of the payment of their allowances.

“We members of the weeding gangs in the Dormaa West District have locked up the office because of our seven months’ unpaid allowances owed us. Life has become difficult for us but all our cries have fallen on deaf ears so we decided to take matters into our own hands by locking up the office”.

Kwaku Abel on his part warned that they will resist any attempt to reopen the office until their allowances have been paid in full.

“The group has resolved not to allow the office to be opened until they pay us and we are bent on ensuring that because they cannot continue to take us for granted”.

Meanwhile, efforts by GhanaWeb to speak to the CHED Manager, Mr. Asamoah Johnson, on the incident at the time of filing this report were unsuccessful but independent checks indicate that the office is still locked up.