They contended that the terms under which their agreement was signed had changed without their consent, while the monthly amount being deducted from their salaries was not commensurate with what should have been deducted. Moreover, they said the motorcycles that had been supplied to them did not have helmets and documents covering them, raising cause for concern. The leader of the affected teachers, Mr. Richard Ayitey, told the Daily Graphic that the cost of the motorcycles was GH¢970 and that it was to be paid within a five-year period under an agreement signed in July 2007. However, the bikes were not supplied until June 2009 when the GES received than and started distributing them to the teachers in August 2009. “Before they give you the motorbike, they take your pay slip,” he said, adding that little did they know that there was a letter dated June 19, 2009 and signed by the Director General of the GES, Mr. Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, that the GES had received a letter from Senalie Company Limited that the price of the motorbikes had been increased to GH¢1,200, as a result of inflation and the current exchange rate of the cedi against the dollar. Mr. Ayitey said the latter from the GES boss to all regional and district directors said the company supplying the bikes was offering additional services that would add an additional GH¢282 to the cost price of the bikes, bringing the total cost to GH¢1,482. “Although the letter from the director general asked the regional and district directors to communicate the new development of the hire purchase to us, the (district and regional directors) never did that till we saw that they had started deducting from our salaries without our approval," he explained, and questioned the additional services the motor company was charging in the letter from the GES Director General. In November 2009, he said, GH¢ 240 each was deducted from their salaries, while GH¢ 80 each was again deducted in December 2009 and January 2010. saying that the deductions came as a surprise to them, as by their own calculation with the initial cost of GH¢ 970, the amount that was deducted from their salaries was wrong. He said 51 teachers in the Ga East District had been affected and that the motorbikes given to them did not even come with helmets, apart from documents and registration numbers, even though those were part of the agreement. Mr. Ayitey said it was not only the 51 of them who had been affected by the development but also many other teachers across the country, saying that "the situation is so pathetic". Meanwhile, the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) has waded into the matter, following the complaint by the teachers, and called for the signing of a new agreement with the company which was supplying the motorcycles. "The CPA will not hesitate to go to court to set aside the new directive on behalf of the affected teachers, since it can be proved beyond reasonable doubt that it was not communicated to the affected teachers," a letter signed by the Complaints and Research Co-ordinator, Nana Aduhene, for the CEO of the CPA, Mr. Kofi Kapito, said.
The letter, which was addressed to Mr. Bannerman- j Mensah, was copied to the Minister of Education, the Chief Director at the Ministry of Education and the Financial Controller of the GES.
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