Vice President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Jacob Anaba, has rejected claims by Information Minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid that their salaries have been paid.

“We are not aware that a single teacher has had his arrears payment, that information we are sure that no teacher has been paid arrears so if that is the information they are churning out then it goes to confirm the deceit and manipulations of the truth and we are unhappy with that,” Mr Anaba told Banjamin Akakpo on Class 91.3FM’s 505 news programme on Wednesday 4 April 2018.

He explained that the teachers had an agreement with government and was signed by the Deputy Minister of Finance Abena Osei-Asare to the effect that the salary arrears will be paid by March, 2018.

However “as I speak to you we don’t have any official information from government that they are not able to meet this deadline” four days into the month of April.

He insisted that the monies has not reflected in their accounts and if indeed it was true that government has issued the payment “what prevents the Information Minister from sending this information to the unions concerned about the situation giving us this information that ‘we (government) have done the payment but it has not hit your bank accounts yet and therefore exercise some patience’. We do not have that information”.

Mr Abdul-Hamid has said the arrears were to have been paid by the end of March but validation processes forced a delay for a few days, and, so expressed surprised at the nationwide strike declared by NAGRAT on Wednesday, 4 April.

Mr Abdul-Hamid told Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen political talk show on authority that the Ministry of Finance has paid the arrears.

He further stated: “It has been four days after the end of March. On 29th of March the Ministry of Finance released a letter to Controller and Accountant General to validate the list and pay. They have used these few days to validate it and today they have paid the money and then you are calling a strike”.

The minister refuted assertions that the declaration of the strike compelled government to take an action to have the salary arrears paid.