Beneficiaries of the Youth in Afforestation programme across the country have embarked on an indefinite strike starting August 1 to demand the payment of their six months allowance arrears.
According to them, although they have held several meetings with stakeholders to demand arrears, their issues have not yet been addressed.
“It is all because of our unpaid allowances. For the past six months now, the government has not paid us our allowances. We have had a series of consultations with the Ministry of Finance, and the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry,” the National President of the Youth in Afforestation Ghana, Rev. Clement Asare, said to Citi News.
Rev. Clement Asare stated the workers had met with the government last week but “per their talks with us, we did not hear any proper assurances from them that they were going to pay us or tomorrow.”
He thus stressed that the workers will remain on strike until their allowances are paid.
According to Rev. Asare, the government urged the workers to continue working while the arrears are sorted out, but the Youth in Afforestation refused the compromise.
“We are still working. We cannot go to work without money. We don’t even have transportation that we can use to go to work,” he said.
The Youth in Afforestation programme was launched in 2018 in line with the government’s commitment to reforestation, forest rehabilitation and forest protection activities.
There are so 100,000 beneficiaries of the programme across the country.
