Tema, Oct 14, GNA-Dr Charles Brempong-Yeboah, Deputy Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, has denied a statement attributed to him by one of the striking teachers in the Tema Municipality that the 11.5 per cent salary increase for teachers "is a free gift from government."

Reacting to a Ghana News Agency (GNA), news item on telephone, Dr Brempong-Yeboah wondered why as a member of the salary negotiating team, he would have turned round to make such a statement. On Tuesday, October 11, Mr Robert Addotey, Tema Municipal Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teahers (GNAT), granted a telephone interview to GNA on the current strike action by teachers within the Municipality.

In that interview, Mr Addotey told GNA that when he was briefing members of GNAT on the salary increment on Monday, one of the teachers made the intervention and alleged that a Deputy Minister of that ministry had come out with the statement concerning teachers' salary adjustment. When contacted, Mr Addotey said he remembered that during his intervention, the teacher made the allegation, but added that in the present circumstances when the teachers were on strike, it would be difficult to trace the particular teacher, to enable the GNA to contact him to either deny or confirm the allegation he made.