Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) members at the Ketu South Municipal Assembly are to resume work from Monday, November 20.
However, they would work only work from 1200 hours to 1700 hours each day.
The decision was taken after a series of engagements with the parties concerned, including a meeting at the CLOGSAG National Secretariat in Accra on November 15.
The workers have suspended work over what they claimed was an unsafe working environment as “the staff of some Departments at the Ketu South Municipal Assembly, Denu are being harassed and cited for noise making by the Magistrate Court” which is in the Assembly Hall of the Municipal Assembly.
In a letter signed by Mr Isaac Bampoe Addo, Executive Secretary, CLOGSAG and available to Ghana News Agency (GNA), the agreement was that Mr Maxwell Koffie Lugudor, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Ketu South would handle any issues pertaining to the court, to which he gave his assurance.
“The workers in the interim would report for work at 12noon to 1700hours each working day, until the court relocates to another place,” the letter said.
Mr Lugudor, Ketu South MCE reacting in an interview with GNA, said the issue had been resolved for workers to resume work on Monday, adding plans were underway to get a court building project at Nogokpo operational to enable the Magistrate Court to relocate.
The relocation of the Magistrate Court depended on the operationalisation of the new court building as it would serve as the Circuit Court currently operating in a building at Tokor, initially meant for the Magistrate Court.
“We have resolved the case and are now looking for a transformer to fix at the new court building to connect the place to the main grid. That project is from the local government fund, and we are working to get funds released to us so we can connect power, which is the only thing lacking, to make the place operational,” he said.
GNA’s visit to the Nogokpo site showed a completed and fully furnished court building with ancillary facilities including judge’s chamber, secretary’s office, registrar’s office, washrooms for staff and a security post.
The site, which also had a water tank mounted, a solar panel fixed as well as a generator set for emergency power supply, looked bushy and the authorities were in the process of clearing.
In December 2020, the Ketu South Municipal Assembly commissioned a new building at Tokor, designated as Circuit Court and inaugurated the Magistrate Court at the Assembly Hall to revitalise the Aflao District Court and the Circuit Court.
The two courts, the busiest in the Volta Region, were closed in March 2019 with pending cases transferred to Agbozume District Court and Keta Circuit Court for continuation in an exercise by the then Chief Justice, Madam Sophia Akuffo, to weed out courthouses that did not meet the standard of edifices for the dispensation of justice in the country.
