Techiman (B/A), Jan. 8, GNA - Pensioners of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), in Techiman Municipality and Nkoranza District, have appealed for the payment of their salary arrears from December 2006 to December 2007. They asked government, Controller and Accountant General's Department and the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to expedite action on the payment of the arrears.

The pensioners claimed that they went on retirement between 2006 and 2007 but had not received their salary arrears for the period. Mr. Opoku Worae, retired Assistant Director of the GES, spokesperson for the 26 pensioners, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Techiman that the outstanding amount was supposed to be paid to them while they were in service. He said they had provided all the necessary documents through the Controller and Accountant General's Department "but nothing has been heard for the past one year".

Mr Worae said "We have realized that we are being forced to forfeit the arrears, which we have worked for but we plead that action would be expedited for prompt payment". He said that the delay in the payment of the arrears "is a violation of our human rights as colleagues elsewhere have been paid theirs".