Teachers in Akatsi demonstrate over restoration of Cap 30

Akatsi (V/R), June 24, GNA - More than 400 teachers in the Akatsi District of the Volta Region, on Wednesday held a peaceful protest march at Akatsi to back their demands for the restoration of the Cap 30 of the Teachers' Pension Ordinance of 1955.

The marchers who took off from the new Akatsi Market through the precincts of the Ghana Education Service to the District Assembly were clad in red attire with red arm and headbands.

They carried placards, some of which read: "SSNIT pension kills more than AIDS," "Cap 30 is good for all of us," "Teachers' reward not in Heaven but in Cap 30" and "One nation one pension scheme."

A resolution presented to President J. A Kufuor though the Akatsi District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Nicholas Negble highlighted the discrimination and disparity in the award of benefits under Cap 30 and the SSNIT Pension, the reversal of personnel in the security and legal services to Government Pension, while workers of the Joint Consultative Forum languished under the SSNIT Pension.

Mr David Kpenu, Akatsi District Chairman of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), presented the resolution to Mr Negble. Receiving the resolution, the DCE appealed to the teachers to return to the classroom as Government was working out a programme to resolve the impasse.

The Akatsi District Secretary of the GNAT, Mr Obo Dzilikeh, urged teachers to educate their pupils and parents on the relevance of the protest so as to draw public sympathy for their cause. 24 June 04