STATEMENT: GAF Reacts To 'Insulting' $1 Increment News Report
The announcement of a $1 increment in the allowance for peace-keeping officers, bringing the total allowance to $31 per day, is said to have been greeted with disdain by some soldiers.
According to an online portal, Pulse.com.gh, some officers of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) have expressed anger with President John Mahama’s decision.
Ghanaian troops on peacekeeping receive $30 a day. This means they will now take $31 a day.
"He [Mahama] is telling us that he has adjusted the thing to us. It is an insult to us. The thing is 30 dollars a day. The feeling is anger amongst us. He shouldn’t have even brought it up in the first place. The army is not permitted to go on demonstration. They are pushing people to rebel That is the discussion we are having here,” Pulse reported citing an anonymous source.
The GAF, has however, sought to clarify the "misconception and negative comments" especially on social media in respect of the increment of peacekeeping allowances
Director of Public relations of the GAF, Colonel Aggrey-Quashie, in a statement issued Friday, said "the negative comments therefore being circulated intended to downplay the efforts in promoting troops welfare by government is in bad state and does not augur for the cohesion of the Ghana Armed Forces."
Read below the GAF's statement on the peacekeeping allowance
Misconception About Increment In Peacekeeping Allowance
The attention of the Ghana Armed Forces has been drawn to misconception and negative comments especially on social media in respect of the increment of peacekeeping allowances by $31.00 per month as announced by the President at an all ranks durbar in Burma Camp on Thursday 11 August 2016.
It must be noted that the monthly rate per soldier as paid by the United Nations since July 2014 had been pegged at $1,332.00 out of which $900.00 each was paid to the soldiers on a monthly basis with the remainder expended on pre-operational training activities which includes feeding, clothing, medicals and other logistics and ancillary services.
With effect from July 2016 the United Nations increased the monthly rate by $32.00 (approx.$1.06 per day) hence the decision by government to accordingly increase the monthly allowances to troops by $31.00 per month (approx $1.00 per day). Invariably the increment by the United Nations has all been passed to the troops.
It is therefore unfortunate, the negative comments being circulated in a cross section of the media and on social media aimed at creating disaffection in respect of an otherwise genuine concern to promote troops welfare.
The Ghana Armed Forces acknowledges that peacekeeping allowances for troops have from time immemorial been increased by government in accordance with United Nations’ periodic increments. In this particular case, the $32.00 increment by the UN has virtually been passed on to troops.
The negative comments therefore being circulated intended to downplay the efforts in promoting troops welfare by government is in bad state and does not augur for the cohesion of the Ghana Armed Forces.
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