NIA Board defends Prof. Attafuah against union’s accusations

By Elvis DARKO, Accra

The Governing Board of Ghana’s National Identification Authority (NIA) has issued a strong defense of its Executive Secretary, Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah.

This is in response to allegations made by the NIA Division of the Public Service Workers’ Union (PSWU) of TUC (Ghana) in support of a petition to the President for his removal as CEO of the NIA.

The PSWU, in a petition allegedly signed by over 900 of its members, called on President Nana Akufo-Addo to remove Prof. Attafuah as Executive Secretary of the NIA, citing several grievances, including alleged unfair dismissals, lack of governance structures, and a shortage of blank cards for the national ID programme.

However, in a detailed seven-page response, the NIA Governing Board categorically rejected the PSWU’s claims, describing the petition as “baseless and unwarranted.”

The Board expressed complete confidence in Professor Attafuah’s leadership, highlighting his role in transforming the NIA into a highly effective and productive institution widely recognized for its efficiency and high performance in the nation’s digitalization agenda.

The Board clarified that disciplinary actions against errant staff are carried out by NIA Management, not by the Executive Secretary, and are conducted in accordance with due process of law that respects the rights of employees.

The Board emphasized that the PSWU had not exhausted internal grievance procedures before petitioning the President.

Earlier, the National Labour Commission (NLC) had categorically declared the PSWU’s actions as “illegal and completely out of line.”

According to the Board, the PSWU abandoned and apologized for most of the issues raised in the petition to the President, as they had been fully and completely addressed by the Executive Secretary and Management.

Specifically, in a meeting convened at the request of Dr. Yaw Baah, Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in July 2023, the PSWU executives offered an unqualified apology to the Governing Board, Executive Secretary, and Management for raising and publicizing their concerns without first bringing them to the attention of the Executive Secretary and Management or the Governing Board for redress.

The Union leadership also agreed that all the issues had been fully and competently addressed.

The Board also addressed other staff concerns in the petition, such as alleged delays in the payment of salaries, poor working conditions, and the absence of two substantive Deputy Executive Secretaries.

The Board explained the complexities involved in government approvals, ongoing negotiations for better conditions of service, and efforts to fill vacancies.

Highlighting Professor Attafuah’s achievements since 2017, the Board pointed to awards received from highly reputable institutions in recognition of his sterling leadership characterized by integrity, innovation, decisiveness, efficiency, and effectiveness.

The Governing Board defended the Executive Secretary’s conduct and decisions in disciplinary cases, asserting that these matters had been investigated and processed properly by Management despite some unavoidable delays.

The Board also disputed the PSWU’s claims about NIA’s conditions of service document.

It noted that a five-member committee had been established by the Executive Secretary to review NIA’s Scheme of Service, Organogram, and Conditions of Service.

A draft Conditions of Service document has been prepared and will be finalized after the ongoing negotiations on the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), which holds the Collective Bargaining Certificate at NIA.

At the first negotiating meeting, NIA received confirmation from the Public Services Commission (PSC) that its Scheme of Service had been approved.

The Executive Director of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Dr. Ben Arthur, announced at the said meeting that NIA’s Scheme of Service approval had been “achieved in record time.”

This remarkable feat was joyfully applauded by all at the meeting, including the Union members who had alleged that Management was delaying the finalization of the Scheme of Service document.

Regarding vacancies within the NIA, the Board assured workers that steps were being taken to fill them, pending necessary approvals.

The Board chided the PSWU leadership for consistently misleading its members, attributing the apparent loss of trust in the Executive Secretary to a “campaign of deliberate misinformation” by the PSWU leadership.

The Board echoed the NLC’s advice to the PSWU to educate its members, follow internal processes for addressing concerns, and refrain from escalating issues to higher authorities without first exhausting internal grievance procedures.