President of IMANI-Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has called for the immediate abolishment of the neutrality allowance paid to civil service workers.

According to him, the Constitution mandates civil servants to steer clear from partisan politics; hence, there is no legitimate basis for the institution of that scheme.

His comment comes after the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) announced its intention to embark on a strike from today, April 21 over government’s failure to pay its members their neutrality allowance.

The Association in a statement said the allowance formed part of a Memorandum of Understanding entered into with the government on January 20, 2022.

Despite official reminders and follow-ups to the Finance Ministry, payment of the allowance has not been effected after more than three months as agreed, CLOGSAG stated.

But Franklin Cudjoe has described the allowance as fraudulent, saying it is entirely wrong for government to pay it.

In an interview with JoyNews, he noted that “The whole idea behind civil service work or public service work is rooted in the principle of neutrality, anonymity and permanency. It is wrong; it definitely should be scrapped.”

Meanwhile, the National Labour Commission (NLC) has expressed shock over the decision by members of CLOGSAG to undertake the industrial action.

The Executive Secretary of the NLC, Ofosu Asamoah, revealed that there was a stakeholder meeting on Wednesday in an attempt to resolve the disagreements.

According to him, the said meeting was fruitful.

“There will be no strike going on tomorrow. I have personally spoken to the CLOGSAG General Secretary; there is no strike. National executives have not mandated any strike and there is no strike tomorrow.

“The circular making rounds is that of 5th of April. That was before the NLC intervention. So, after the NLC intervention, there is no strike tomorrow,” he said.