Personnel of the Youth in Afforestation program have embarked on a sit-down strike in protest over unpaid allowances which have been in arrears for the past five months.
According to them, several efforts to get the allowances paid have proven futile.
The national leader for the Youth in Afforestation programme, Rev. Clement Asare, who spoke to Citi News indicated that his members will also not partake in the upcoming Green Ghana tree planting project as a result of the arrears, stressing that they will only resume their work after the monies hit their accounts.
“If the government doesn’t pay us, we will not take part in the Green Ghana project. Our sit-down strike started today. The work that we were doing to prepare for the Green Ghana, we have stopped. We are not going to work until the government pays us. This morning I spoke with the Deputy CEO of the Forestry Commission and according to her, they are doing all they can, and it is left with the Finance Ministry to pay us,” he said.
In March 2022, the group made a similar demand for their allowances.
A month earlier, the group protested over their allowances, which had been in arrears for five months, prompting authorities to make two months’ payments.
The Green Ghana project was launched by the government with the aim of restoring the forest cover of the country.
The government is hoping to plant 20 million trees this year through the project.
