Agents for the Voter’s Exhibition exercise in the Northern Region have threatened to boycott the exercise if the Electoral Commission does not increase the allowance being paid them.
According to them, Exhibition officers and Biometric Verification officers are each being paid a total of GHC 400 and GHC350 respectively for the 21-day exercise that started on July 18.
They argued that the amount, which translates into GHC19.05 and GHC16.6 respectively per day, is woefully inadequate to cater for their daily expenditure, which includes transportation to and from their homes to the centres as well as food among others.
The Exhibition and Verification officers say the experience some of them have gained in the exercise since 1992 does not commensurate with the allowance they are to be paid at the end of the exercise.
The group, numbering about 300, have since Saturday, July 16 petitioned the Electoral Commission over the matter. A select five-man team is expected to meet with the Northern Regional EC Director Wednesday to resolve the issue.
Leader of the group, Braima Azazi Damba, told 3News “if we don’t hear anything concrete, we will know they are not serious; Ghana is not serious. We will not work. We will keep the kit; if they want it they should come for them and pay us”.
Asked why whether it is not a case of stabbing the EC in the back on the issue or allowance, he claimed they were not told how much they would be given during their training until the last minute when they demanded to know.
Mr Damba claimed many of the Exhibition and Verification officers, signed contract with the EC without knowing how much they were going to be paid at the work, something he said was not the best.
“Is it that there is no job in Ghana and that people want to take advantage of us, no,” he said, and asked that in subsequent exercise, the EC must first publish the amount it intends paying before recruiting in order for people will decide if it is worth their service.
Mr Damba explained their demand is not for only officers in the Northern Region but for all the others across the country, saying, “We are representing the entire Northern Region and the nation.
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter @3NewsGh
