Fumesua, (Ash), Feb 4, GNA - The country's Polytechnics have cautio= ned the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAG) against what the= y say is the coercive attempts to migrate them unto its payroll system.

A resolution read by the Chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics, Alhaji Dr Yakubu Seidu Peligah, at the end of their meeting a= t Fumesua near Kumasi, said they 93would not be forced to accept migration u= nto the CAG payroll system" and that any attempt at doing this could ignite trouble. This comes in the wake of plans by the Controller and Accountant General to bring them on board by February 18.

The meeting brought together the Rectors, members of the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG), Polytechnic Administrators Association of Ghana (PAAG), Ghana Association of Polytechnic Administrator= s (GAPA) and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU). Alhaji Dr Peligah said the polytechnics have had enough of problems and the migration saga must not be allowed to add to the confusion and compound matters. "We don't want further disturbances on the country's Polytech= nic campuses", he said.

Throwing more light on the reason behind their position, Alhaji Dr Peligah, said on October 14, last year, the CAG reached a seven-point agreement on a road map for their migration unto the department's payroll system. The Polytechnics were to be zoned and centres created on each campus for installation of payroll processing gadgets which would be hooked unto the CAG payroll processing computer server. A Polytechnic Migration Committee was to be formed for purposes of educating and sensitizing staff and liaise with the department for smooth take-off while a three-member ICT Committee was also to be set up to help t= o address all ICT-related issues.

Additionally, the CAG Technical Team on the migration project wa= s to offer training services to all payroll officers at various Polytechnic campuses. Each Polytechnic was also to procure computers for its processing centre.

Alhaji Dr Peligah said most of these processes have not been carried out, yet the CAG is bent on moving them onto their system and question why the rush. He said the Polytechnics as tertiary institutions have the capacity to process their payroll as they have been doing over the years without any hitches. Alhaji Dr Peligah identified some of the potential difficulties that would arise out of the migration as the handling of overload or overtime claim, the flexibility of staff obtaining loans and advances from within th= e polytechnics and external entities. He said the Polytechnics are not the only public institution, which are not on CAG payroll processing system and should not be used as test case. "We are not against the migration, but the proper thing must be done. They need not coerce us to do that. We don't want to be used as guinea pigs", he said.