Ghanaian Times

"Nurses call off strike...After marathon meeting", says the lead headline story of the Ghanaian Times. The paper says after a marathon meeting in Accra yesterday between the executives of the Ghana Registered Nurses' Association (GRNA)and Nurse Anaesthetists on one hand, and the Ministers of Health and Employment and Social Welfare on the other, the nurses agreed to call off their strike with immediate effect and resume duty. The Times says the meeting which began at 10 a.m. at the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, ran into a deadlock in the afternoon and had to be reconvened in the evening until a compromise was reached at 9 p.m. A communiqu? jointly signed by the two Ministers Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor and Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni on one hand and Mrs Emma Banga, President of the GRNA and Mr Felix Fonder, Vice-President for the Nurse Anaesthetists agreed on five points of interest to both sides. These are: * All health workers/professionals who do overtime would be paid allowances for extra duty hours (overtime) actually done. * The overtime payment will be based on the submission of duty rosters authorised by heads of departments and institutions and attendance books. * All health workers on strike should resume work immediately. * Within a month from the submission of completed data, the government side will effect payment of all overtime claims. * The effective date of implementation will be January 1, 1999.

"Nurses call off strike...After marathon meeting", says the lead headline story of the Ghanaian Times. The paper says after a marathon meeting in Accra yesterday between the executives of the Ghana Registered Nurses' Association (GRNA)and Nurse Anaesthetists on one hand, and the Ministers of Health and Employment and Social Welfare on the other, the nurses agreed to call off their strike with immediate effect and resume duty. The Times says the meeting which began at 10 a.m. at the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, ran into a deadlock in the afternoon and had to be reconvened in the evening until a compromise was reached at 9 p.m. A communiqu? jointly signed by the two Ministers Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor and Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni on one hand and Mrs Emma Banga, President of the GRNA and Mr Felix Fonder, Vice-President for the Nurse Anaesthetists agreed on five points of interest to both sides. These are: * All health workers/professionals who do overtime would be paid allowances for extra duty hours (overtime) actually done. * The overtime payment will be based on the submission of duty rosters authorised by heads of departments and institutions and attendance books. * All health workers on strike should resume work immediately. * Within a month from the submission of completed data, the government side will effect payment of all overtime claims. * The effective date of implementation will be January 1, 1999. In a second front page story, the Times reports that the Local Organising Committee (LOC) which was responsible for the organisation of the Africa Youth Soccer Championship in Accra last February, spent a total of 3.5 billion cedis on the tournament. In a story headlined: "LOC spent 3.5bn cedis on tournament - Accountant", the Times quotes Mr James Tiigah, accountant of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, as giving evidence to the committee investigating the award of contracts for the Accra and Kumasi sports stadia rehabilitation works at its sitting in Accra yesterday. Mr Tiigah said the expenditure covered accommodation, transportation, feeding and allowances for the officials and teams which took part in the tournament. According to him accommodation and feeding alone amounted to over 1.3 billion cedis. On transportation for the teams and officials during the tournament, he is reported as telling the probe that the LOC liaised with Speedway Travel and Tours, a tour company, which put together a fleet of 32 saloon cars, eight cross-country vehicles, three mini-buses, two vans and eight other buses. The accountant said before the tournament, it was estimated that 55 would be needed for officials and the teams but it was realised that more vehicles would be needed. He said the company charged cedis for the use of the vehicles based on the dollar rate at that time.