Neutrality allawa: Seek alternative jobs if you can’t be neutral – Lawyer

A legal practitioner, Mr Theophilus Dzimega, has questioned the legality of CLOGSAG’s neutrality allowance, saying it is inconsistent with the 1992 Constitution.

Members of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) embarked on a strike on Thursday, 21 April 2022, over the non-payment of their arrears.

The strike is to press home their demand for their Neutrality Allowance.

They are requesting the allowance because they are forbidden from participating in active politics.

But speaking on Class News’ 505 with Korku Lumor, Mr Dzimega called on civil servants to either stick with the provisions of the Constitution, which forbid them from taking part in active politics or seek employment elsewhere.

He said: “Neutrality allowance with all intent and purposes defeats the very purpose for which we have Article 94 (3)”.

“Even their code of ethics – the code of conduct for civil servants says they cannot take part in active politics and if you look at the argument of CLOGSAG, when they went to the Supreme Court, there’s one aspect they forgot, one point that they keep quoting about human rights; the human rights portion of the Constitution ends with public interest or for the public good, so, it is for public interest and it is in the public good that such a clause is in the Constitution….”

“I don’t think we should belabour the point that we want to find out whether we will be taking part in politics or not …the Constitution, the supreme law of this country, exists before you got employed, so, you either take it or you seek alternative employment,” he added.