Group threatens to sue NIA for breach of contract

A group calling itself Concerned Contract Commissioners for Oaths, are threatening court action against the National Identification Authority (NIA) over what they call a breach of contract.

The group consisting of some hundred commissioners of oaths are part of some three-hundred people contracted by the NIA to assist it in the ongoing Ghana card registration.

Their role was to oversee the process of swearing oaths and making of affirmations by relatives of persons who do not have birth certificates or passports, the two mandatory documents needed for the registration of the Ghana card.

But the group is saying that, just five months into their contract which is supposed to last a year, the Authority is falling back in fulfilling its part of the contract. They claim they have been at home for the past two months without being engaged by the Authority for any work and in essence have not received any salary for the said period.

Speaking to Ghanaweb, Public Relations Officer for the group, Mr Collins Bossah, said, all measures to get the authority to offer explanations for their situation and get their concerns addressed has failed.

“We wrote a petition to them (NIIA) asking them to respond why we have been denied our right to work for the NIA and mother Ghana as well, but we did not receive anything from them,” he said.

According the PRO, all the group seeks is an amicable solution to the current situation as it has brought about hardship on its members. “Some of them (the group members)they have kids, wives and family members to take care of, so we are not fighting with them(NIA), we don’t begrudge anybody we are just hoping that they will respond to our call and everything will be fine”, he indicated.

The group says it is still exploring all avenues available to them in order to get their concerns addressed and are looking forward to taking the matter up to the Judicial Service, which is their mother body.

In what will be the groups final resort should all other efforts fail, Mr. Bossah said, ”definitely they (NIA) will meet us in court, we will go and test the law”.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com