Ashanti: EC contract workers complain over non-payment of election allowances

Contract workers of the Electoral Commission in the Ashanti Region are calling on the Commission to pay the monies owed them.

The workers were contracted in December 2020 to assist the Commission in conducting the 2020 general elections.

According to them, their contract stated that they were to be paid by the end of December 2020, however, the EC has not fulfilled its side of the Contract and all efforts to get the Electoral Commission to pay them their allowances have proven futile.

One of the contract workers stated that “before December 7, we went for training, we applied and some of us were called, others were not. They said after one month and latest by the end of December we were going to get our salaries. After we finished, they asked us to fill the forms, and on some occasions they called us to come to the office to confirm our bank account details among others. We thought by February it [allowance] will come but to date, we have not been paid.”

Some of those recruited as temporary staff to help in the 2020 elections served as presiding officers, verification officers, name list reference officers, COVID ambassadors and ballot issuers.

There has also been complaints from some workers in the Oti region over the non-payment of their allowances.

Those affected say they are disappointed in the silence of the EC on the issue.