The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has called on the government to instruct the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department to pay newly promoted teachers at their appropriate salary levels.
GNAT General Secretary Thomas Tanko Musah said teacher unions had been assured during negotiations that affected teachers would not need to provide additional documents before their salaries were adjusted.
However, he said that agreement had not yet been implemented.
Speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues on Sunday, October 4, he argued that the government must ensure the money is released once it has approved the payment of the correct salaries.
“If somebody has worked and the person is going to Controller to go and take his salary and the person who is supposed to pay my salary is telling me that he will not give it to me, then my employer is under obligation and he owes me the duty of care to order that person, authorize and instruct him that look the money I gave you to give to my employees, give it to them,” Tanko Musah said.
He added that the unions were not responsible for the failure to implement the agreement reached with the government.
“We don’t mean harm. We went for a meeting to negotiate. They themselves read the text out that nobody should submit any document and Controller was instructed to go and pay the thing automatically to teachers and you have not done it, is it our making?” he said.
Mr Tanko Musah stressed that teachers were employed by the government, not by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department. The department, he explained, simply administers salary payments on behalf of the state.
“We didn’t work for Controller, we work for Government but government decided that the salaries that we will take should go through Controller,” he said.
He therefore said the unions’ disagreement was with the government over the implementation of the agreed salary payments, rather than with the department responsible for processing salaries.
“We did not work for Controller and if there is anything, we have an issue with our employer (Government) and that is where we are now,” he added.
Pre-tertiary teacher unions in Ghana, including GNAT, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and PRETAG, began a nationwide strike on Friday, September 25, 2026.
Their demands include the automatic placement of promoted teachers on the correct salary levels, the payment of outstanding salary arrears and adjustments, implementation of the 20% Deprived Area Allowance, and action on expired conditions of service and collective agreements.
Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu and Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson have appealed to the unions to end the industrial action. They have committed to addressing promotion allowances and arranging further discussions with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).
The unions have rejected those appeals and told members to remain on strike until the new salaries and arrears are paid.
