School of Hygiene graduates appeal for employment following gesture to nurses, others

The Local Government Workers’ Union (LGWU) of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), has appealed to the government to extend its employment gesture to graduates of the country’s schools of hygiene.

“It is unfortunate that 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 batches of graduates of the schools of hygiene have not been employed. These graduates have now formed the Concerned Environmental Health Officers Association and have been calling on the authorities to speed up issues on their employment situation,” the union stated.

In a statement signed by the General-Secretary, Mr Joe Boahen, the LGWU expressed regret that while those graduates were at home, the Schools of Hygiene continued to use the tax-payers money to train more students.

Enforcing sanitation laws

The statement said the schools of hygiene graduates had critical roles to play in the national drive to improve sanitation which should not be taken for granted. “These are officers trained to enforce sanitation laws and educate people on measures to prevent sanitation and hygiene-related diseases,” it said.

It expressed the hope that when the graduates were employed, it would augment the national sanitation programme and make it sustainable.

“The LGWU is compelled to appeal to President John Mahama following the receipt of a copy of a “Reminder Letter” from the Concerned Environmental Health Officers Association.

The reminder letter that was addressed to the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations partly stated that “…. We deem it a necessity to remind you of the promise made to us on the 20th of October, 2015 that our postings will be ready by the 1st of January 2016. Honourable, though we are optimistic, the date has long elapsed. We, therefore, wish to remind you of the aforementioned so that steps are taken to expedite the processes,” it said.

The statement pointed to the directive by President Mahama at the recent media encounter at the Flagstaff House where he asked the relevant agencies to work on the delayed postings of trained nurses and teachers.

“We hope the President will extend the same gesture to cover the over 1,500 schools of hygiene graduates who are also at home,” it said.

Demonstrations
“As a union, we have on a number of occasions prevailed on the hygiene graduates not to resort to demonstrations or any violent acts to back their demands. We hope the government is not waiting for members of the Concerned Environmental Health Officers Association to hit the street before attending to their grievances,” it said.

Nurses engagement
The Ministry of Finance last week gave clearance for the employment of 3,294 nurses and allied health professionals by the Ministry of Health.

The number represented those who had completed their training in 2013 and 2014.

The clearance came after a series of picketing by the affected professionals.