Volta Region Dam Disaster: Tension Brews In North Tongu Over Corruption In Distributions Of GNAT Compensation Cash To Teachers 

MASSIVE CONFUSION and corruption have rocked the disbursement of GH¢190, 000.00 cash allocated by Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) as the compensation packages to the Akosombo and Akuse dams spillage disaster victims who are teachers in the various basic schools in the communities along Volta River Basin of the North Tongu District.

There is a growing tension in the North Tongu District as some aggrieved teachers in formal education in the flood-hit areas along the Volta River have accused the executives of the  GNAT of registering their favourites who are non-teachers to benefit from compensation cash packages meant for affected teachers under the GNAT.

Information available to this news outlet indicates that the GNAT made allocation of GH¢190, 000.00 for teachers who are members of GNAT who suffered due to the spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong dams by the Volta River Authority (VRA).

The payment of the cash, according to the information available to this outfit was done in two categories. However, it has emerged that the teachers in the first category who were described as severeness flood victims were given GH¢1,000.00 each as a compensation package.

Whilst the teachers in the second category who were also described as the severe flood victims were given GH¢5,00.00 each as a compensation package.

There has been a mixed to the payment of the money for which many teachers in the worst hit communities who suffered due to the spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong dams have raised an alarm bell.

They have, therefore, called for the accountability and probe of the payment because they thought that what was given to them as compensation packages out of GH¢190, 000.00 was extremely little money also amount to small insults.

They indicated that they were making this complain because the non-teachers have benefited from the payment of the relief monies as the compensation packages allocated to the affected teachers by the GNAT in the district.

In this regard, the disgruntled members of GNAT in North Tongu have called on the national executive of the GNAT to set independent committee to commission an immediate prone into the distributions of the money to the teachers in the district who were worst affected by the floodwaters.

According to the concerned teachers, having gone through the list of the names of the beneficiaries, it was clearly shown that some people who were given the money were not teachers and that some of them are not even living in the communities affected by the floodwaters.

This news out was reliably informed that 
 teachers from Battor and Aveyime townships were not affected by the floods but they have dominated the membership lists to benefit from the compensation packages from the GNAT of the North Tongu District.

Speaking in an interview with this news outlet the teachers who pleaded condition of anynomity expressed worry about the development.

They maintained that there were people who are not teachers in the affected communities in the district but their names were registered by the executives of the GNAT who equally benefited from the payment of the compensation packages.

The teachers described the situation as a complete stealing and cheating, adding that  the executives of GNAT disrespected teachers who were affected, hence they are calling for proper accountability of the disbursement of the cash.