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Unemployed Veterinary Technical officers and Veterinary Nurses to stage street protests until they get appointments in the public sector

A Coalition of unemployed Veterinary technical officers and Veterinary Nurses have threatened to stage series of street protests against the government if they fail to employ them.

The group members are yet to be employed by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture after the completion of their studies.

According them the Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD) which at the moment is under-staffed, will not be able to fully perform its mandated should the government continue to allow trained Veterinary officers to stay at home.

The coalition in a press statement copied to Diamond news said MoFA has failed to honor its promises to them since 2018.

The national president of the Coalition of unemployed Veterinary technical officers and Veterinary Nurses, Lankoriba Otabil Naab, who spoke to diamond news, said clearance from the Finance Ministry had been long overdue and the many engagements with the ministry of agriculture had yielded no results except promises.

Lankoriba Otabil Naab in expressing their frustrations, however indicated that the group will not hesitate to stage series of demonstrations should the government fail to adhere to their concerns.

Read full statement Below:

COALITION OF UNEMPLOYED VETERINARY TECHNICAL OFFICERS AND VETERINARY NURSES DEMAND FINANCIAL CLEARANCE AND SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS     *22/08/2020*

TO ALL MEDIA HOUSES.

A PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

     Ladies and gentlemen of the media present, Guests, fellow colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you all.

      The leadership of the aforementioned group would like to draw the attention of the general public and all our sympathizers to the neglect we have suffered and continue to suffer in the hands of previous governance and the current government.

     Exactly 3 years ago, Students of the five Agricultural colleges namely Pong Tamale Veterinary college Kwadaso Agricultural college, Ejura Agricultural college, Damongo Agricultural college and Ohawu Agricultural college staged a massive picketing at the forecourt of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture over the government’s inability to restore the allowances of agricultural colleges while doing so for nurses and teachers. The minister in response to our plight, requested to meet with our leadership at that time which they gladly obliged to.

     Ladies and gentlemen, after a dialogue with the minister the following were established.

1. The minister said we were not captured in the then opposition new patriotic party’s manifesto as nurses and teachers were so we needed to remain patient while the ministry tries to let our request reach the ears of the president.

2. The minister also added that, the president had sent a delegation to Washington to seek for approval for the recruitment of extension officers which will aid the planting for food and job program.

3. Lastly, the minister Stated emphatically that we have been guaranteed employment and that all and sundry shall be given jobs after completion.

 Ladies and gentlemen of the media, let me state that we never received the allowances we picketed and hoped for, as our colleagues in the nursing and teacher training colleges did but we continued to remain calm knowing that the Minister for food and Agriculture had promised and guaranteed us that the government had already made plans for our employment after completion.

  Ladies and gentlemen, to our surprise, it will interest you to know now that since completing in 2018, the struggle for this same employment we were assured of by the Minister of Food and Agriculture has been back and forth. To this very time, several attempts to engage the minister or have him engage us in a dialogue have been unfruitful.

     Ladies and gentlemen of the media, It is a sad fact to note that the number of Veterinary Doctors and Paraveterinarians put together is less than 1300 countrywide. Even more sadly, about 30% of these professionals will be retiring in the next 2 years.

     With the above statistics and considering that there are over 250 districts in the country each district even in fair distribution, will have less than 5 veterinary officers , This woefully inadequate number  of staff are supposed to carry out meat inspections in our abattoirs almost every day to ensure that we get nothing but wholesome meat, Vaccinate and treat our pets and livestock, give adequate farm advices, quarantine newly imported farm animals, Issue livestock movement permits, report the occurrences of disease outbreaks etc..

     In some towns and communities with appreciable number of livestock and pets for instance, the name ‘veterinary’ and its associated practices which involves the health and production of Animals is a deception or illusion. For instance many farmers complain that they only hear the name of veterinary officers but they don’t see them. In one of such communities, livestock farmers were seen using Onga seasoning powder prepared into a concoction and ignorantly administered to farm animals in a bid to neuter i.e. castrate healthy male animals. Yet, some trained veterinary technical officers are left to rot at home. Let me also state that, the situation of inadequate veterinary technicians in the country now compels farmers to buy random hideous, ghastly, horrendous and shocking concoctions and drugs in an attempt to cure farm animals from disease they do not know. It is also not surprising that there are some Fulani herdsmen in the country that go

around injecting and killing animals and cannot be called to book because farmers feel they have no option but to go to them.

  Additionally, it is important to note that the public health of human is very paramount and cannot be overlook . Research has shown that about 70% of human diseases are from the animals  such as Tuberculosis ,Anthrax,  Rabies, Brucelosis , Menge are all consider to be zoonotic meaning it can be transferred from animals to humans.Also Government will need more veterinary hands in order to successfully implement its flagship program REARING FOR FOOD AND JOBS since the health of the livestock will take a center stage in the course of the implementation of such a laudable program. Farmers will not only need subsidies on prices of livestock but the assurance that the health of their farm animals will be improved by enabling easy access to a veterinary technician when needed at all times. It is in the light of this that we the COALITION of UNEMPLOYED VETERINARY TECHNICAL OFFICERS and VETERINARY NURSES are demanding FINANCIAL CLEARANCE and subsequent EMPLOYMENT for the 558 of us from three batches. We are of the humble view that the Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD) is under-staffed and will not be able to fully perform its mandated responsibilities.

     Leadership appreciates the efforts put up so far by the Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD) in the bid to secure our financial clearance and subsequent postings but will like to register our displeasure at how woefully the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has failed to fulfill Its promise to us yet.

    We therefore as a matter of urgency call on the Minister and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance to;

officially release Financial Clearance for all three batches of Veterinary Technical Officers and Nurses who have completed their national service in 21 days.

  We also as a matter of urgency call on the VEMTAG to request;

  1. For their continuous support in the fight for our financial clearance and subsequent posting.
  2. That they sympathize with their junior colleagues by laying down their tools should the Minister decline our request, to register their displeasure over the Government’s inability to fulfill its obligation.

The Agricultural sector as we all know is very important and plays a vital role in GDP of a country and must therefore not be taken lightly, If we can export Gold, Bauxite, Crude etc. which are limited resources and at some point are going to decrease in production despite our technological advancement, we can do same for chicken, guinea fowls, beef, mutton, chevon which can be produced in and out of season when we have enough men to assist our beloved farmers and we the Coalition of Unemployed Veterinary Technical Officers and Veterinary Nurses are ever ready to serve mother Ghana in this regard and beyond.

We as an Association shall advice ourselves and come out in our numbers to register our displeasure, should the Government fail to respond to the above concerns. In the meantime, we humbly call on all members of the association to remain calm as we continue to engage the relevant authorities through peaceful dialogues. God bless our nation and make her great and strong.

Thank you.

TO: THE MINISTER OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

CC

DIRECTOR OF VETERINARY SERVICES DIRECTORATE (VSD)

DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCE AND MANAGEMENT DIRECTORATE.

PRESIDENT OF VETERINARY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS ASSOCIATION OF GHANA(VEMTAG)

 Signed

Lankoriba Otabil Naab- National President    0249043455

Hassan Mohammed-Tawfiq Sigli- National Vice President 0241961750

Bawa Iddrisu- National Gen. Sec 0546241920

Seidu Abdul Halim- Dep. National Secretary 0241804045

Tom Timothy-National PRO 0547377686

Mohammed Mudasir- National Fin. Sec 0546912240

Zakari Abdul-Basit- National Organizer 0240870978

Story by: Alhassan Yakubu

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