Prez Akufo-Addo Orders Suspension Of GES Staff From Controversial Software

President Nana Akufo-Addo has ordered the Ministry of Finance to with immediate effect, suspend the use of the controversial management software in the educational sector, which has triggered agitations in the sector.

Government through the Public Services Commission adopted the use of the Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS) in 2012 to establish a comprehensive and a common human resource database for all public service employees in the country.

Some government institutions were moved onto the system in phases. The Controller and Accountant General recently migrated employees of Ghana Education Service onto the HRMIS but the various teacher unions have raised issues with the system and demanded its stoppage.

Some teacher unions including the National Association of Graduate Teachers declared strike over the system claiming it “has brought a lot of problems and pains to the Ghanaian Teacher”.

According to the group, some teachers completed their study leave with or without pay, have had difficulty being reinstated into the GES and even when they are reinstated, “they are still being paid their pre-study leave salaries.

“…Teachers who for one reason or the other have had their salaries stopped, will have to live without being paid for months despite the fact that they report regularly to duty,” President of NAGRAT Eric Angel Carbonu said. On the back of the labour agitations arising from the system, President Akufo-Addo has directed that the system is stopped.

“I have been directed by the President to request that the use of the Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS) to administer the Ghana Education Service (GES) payroll be suspended until such time as all issues relating to its use are resolved. The GES should therefore be taken off the platform for now,” Executive Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante said in a statement Friday.

“In the meantime, the IPPD2 should be reverted to in administering the GES payroll pending the resolution of all HRMIS issues related to the GES,” it added.

What’s the HRMIS?

The HRMIS aims at strengthening controls around entrance, exit, promotions and positions across the various service groups.

The HRMIS project is a component of the GIFMIS project, which has now metamorphosed into the Public Financial Management Reform Project (PFMRP).