Head of Corporate Affairs at the National Identification Authority (NIA), William Ampomah Darlas has urged staff of the NIA to suspend the strike action for negotiations to resolve their demands.
Speaking in an interview on TV3 News Central, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, Ampomah Darlas noted that a meeting with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has been initiated to address the matter.
“From the journey so far, they have every right to take the decision that they have taken except to plead with them to rescind the decision and then come to the table.
“As we speak, I was in the meeting with the CEO for Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to deliberate on the way forward,” he said.
Staff of NIA have declared a nationwide strike over the Ministry of Finance’s failure to provide a definitive commitment or timeline regarding the payment of the Operational Support Allowance—the only allowance NIA staff get to supplement their meagre basic pay.
He explained that a meeting between the Authority and the Finance Ministry was held last year where it was agreed that the NIA should use its Internally Generated Fund to pay for these allowances between August 2024 to December 2024, which he said payments have been made till that period.
The second agreement was for the NIA to take steps to inculcate funds for the allowances in the 2025 budget to enable the Ministry move it from the Authority’s IGF for provisions to be made in the NIA’s 2025 budget.
He explained that the processes to begin the payment of the allowances have commenced.
“We have started the processes. As of last week, we have gotten a letter from the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to the Finance Ministry asking them to give Controller and Accountant General the go ahead to pay the 20% to our staff.”
William Darlas further explained what caused the delay in the payment of these allowances.
“Unfortunately, there was a meeting yesterday (June 23) and the Finance Ministry tells us when they were migrating the Authority from the budget of the office machinery to the Interior Ministry, they did not move that GHC15m allocation they made so that is why they’ve not been able to pay,” he stated.
He added: “So, they can only move it to the mid-year budget. So, we are looking for ways to commit to paying a month or two from whatever sources we can till the Ministry moves to the midyear budget.”
This followed a resolution by the Divisional Executive Council of the Public Services Workers’ Union (PSWU) – NIA, and after a final round of engagement with the Ministry of Finance on June 23, 2025.
They described this decision as “difficult but necessary”. A statement issued on Tuesday, June 24, said that this allowance was the outcome of extensive negotiations concluded in July 2024 between the Government of Ghana’s team—comprising the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and the Ministry of Finance—and representatives of the Union.
