Austin Gamey rejects GES Deputy Director-General’s contract extension

A Labour Consultant, Mr Austin Gamey has said the Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Mr Anthony Boateng whose contract has been extended by the President, could have been hired as a consultant at the GES, not necessarily prolong his contract.

In his view, contract extensions in organizations deprive other deserving persons from being promoted or upgraded.

Mr Akufo-Addo has decided to extend the contract of service of the Deputy Director-General (Management Services) of the GES, Mr Boateng for a year.

A press statement dated August 19, 2022, signed by the Secretary to President Nana Bediatuo Asante, disclosed that the service extension started on August 17, 2022, and expected to end on August 16, 2023.

“I am pleased to inform you that the President of the Republic has granted you a further one-year contract of service as Deputy Director-General (Management Services) of the Ghana Education Service, effective 17th August 2022 to 16th August 2023.”

Speaking on this issue in an interview with TV3’s Roland Walker, Mr Gamey said “If at any point in time someone who worked for well over 30 years is supposed to go on retirement and the person is being given contract of employment, what it does is to deprive people who are supposed to either be upgraded, promoted or given further training.

“You have to train the other people to perform such duties, that is a civilized way of managing human resource of any institution or organization especially so when it is governmental organization.

“If they think that he is very hard working, the skills that he possesses is quite productive and useful to the organization, they could have given him the opportunity to come back as a consultant to the organization.“

Regarding this matter, teacher unions appealed to Mr Anthony Boateng to respectfully decline the contract extension.

The unions – the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT-Ghana) and Teachers & Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) – who want all officers who are due for retirement to vacate their post said he should decline the appointment.

A statement issued by the four teacher unions said “The weekend has been inundated with concerns and agitations by the rank and file of education workers and pre-tertiary education and other stakeholders on the issue of post retirement contact extension to the Deputy Director General of Education and also the stay in office of other retired persons in education and the Ghana Education Service.

“The leadership of the unions and pre-tertiary education have assessed the situation and concerns and call on the former Deputy Director of GES Mr Anthony Boaten to respectfully decline the offer from the President and the Ministry of Education.”

“We also call on the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service to direct all retired persons in the GES to hand over immediately to the next in line and proceed on their compulsory retirement.

“If by 30th September 2022, such persons are still at post, we will call on our members to disregard directives issued by these persons.”

source:3news