Environmental Health Officers in Ghana are set to stage a protest on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, due to the prolonged delay in securing financial clearance from the government.
This follows the expiration of a one-month ultimatum they gave the government to intervene in the matter.
Despite completing their one-year mandatory national service, these officers claim they have encountered a deadlock in their attempts to secure postings from the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.
The General Secretary of the Association, Fred Awine, disclosed in an interview with Citi News that after the protest, they would give the government another 30-day ultimatum to clear them, failing which they would continue to highlight their problems.
“To be frank, all our efforts have not yielded any results, and from today, we have set the date for Wednesday, 17th, to go on a protest in Tamale to submit our petition to the regional coordinating Council, the regional Minister of the Northern region.
We have copied the local government ministry, we have copied the Minister of Water and Sanitation, we have copied the Finance Ministry that we are coming for them. Note that we are not only environmental health officers; we also have Operational Health Safety and Physiotherapists among us, and all are still at home. We need clearance and postings.”
Mr. Awine emphasized their determination to serve the nation, citing prolonged disregard from the government as the driving force behind their decision to protest if they are not employed.
He urged the government to provide clearance and postings to enable the officers to serve their country and take care of their families.
“Our country indeed needs our service, but we are home jobless. No one is caring about the state of this country when it comes to sanitation and preventive medicines. Meanwhile, we have preventive medicine officers who have been at home since 2021, and we have not been cleared and posted. We are therefore calling on the government that we need clearance and postings to serve our country. We need clearance and postings to take care of our families.”
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