Ghana Railway Workers To Get Pay Arrears – Joe Ghartey

Minister for Railway Development, Joe Ghartey, has assured that government will begin the payment of three months’ salary arrears to workers of the Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) next week.

He indicated that government was also giving financial assistance to support the operations of the company from this year to March, 2021 as the company began to improve its service delivery in the haulage of manganese from Nsuta in the Western Region.

Speaking on Metro TV’s ‘Eye on Port’ programme, the minister revealed that the financial support from government would cover all the company’s expenses till next year March.

“The money will hit the railway company’s accounts next week,” he said.

The minister was, however, quick to add that the said money from government was not free money, in that the GRCL would pay back after things normalized.

GRCL has been unable to meet its obligation to workers, and owes its staff three months of their salary and other benefits due to challenges with haulage of manganese from Nsuta.

The main constraint has been as a result of an impasse between the Minerals Commission and the Ghana Manganese Company Limited, over the tonnage of manganese they are to mine each year.

“This is why the GRCL was not raising enough money to pay the workers of the company,” Joe Ghartey clarified.

“The GRCL earns its money from manganese, and what happened was that the manganese company went on a break for a while,” he added.

He said to alleviate the challenges being faced by workers as a result of the break, the government had agreed to help finance the operations of the company from now till the end of March next year.

(Peace FM Online)