President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, has stated that, the directive of the Controller and Accountant General's Department to withhold the salaries of government workers who would not have the Ghana Card by December 1, is definitely wrong.

Adding his voice to the plethora of labour unions who are against the directive, Mr. Angel Carbonu stated that, it is absolutely a wrong move, one that seeks to deprive government workers what is due them after all their work.

Speaking on Accra based Citi FM, he expressed the view that, the directive should be quashed, noting that “We have received a letter to that effect and I must say that it is displeasing, to say the least.

In fact, we have what we call the workman compensation principle. The principle states that once it is proven that the workman has done his job, it is the duty of the beneficiary of that job to compensate the workman. This penchant for threatening not to pay a worker regardless of whether the worker has done his duty to push through a policy is absolutely wrong, and it ought to stop.”

According to Carbonu, NAGRAT would engage the right stakeholders soon to ensure that, its members are not treated unfairly as a result of this directive because, “If you want all Ghanaians to register for the Ghana card, why do you threaten me not to pay my salary when it can be proven that I have done the work that I’m supposed to do. So they want to disregard the work that someone has done over the Ghana card. What they are doing is to compel me through threats, to register for the Ghana Card.”

He stated that, NAGRAT is going to write to the Controller and Accountant Generals Department (CAGD) to stop threatening them with non-payment of salaries. He added that, he is not against all government workers getting the Ghana Card, but the way the CAGD is going about is wrong.

The CAGD on October 12, 2021 issued a press release stating that, from December 1, 2021 government workers who lacked the Ghana card would not receive their salaries.

This move, according to them is aimed at ensuring a “speedy, secured and verified payroll services to government employees and pensioners while reducing the risk of undeserving payments or claims.”