Management of the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement System (GhIPSS) has expressed its readiness to roll on civil servants onto the Ezwich platform if approved by the Controller and Accountant Generals Department.
The process was started late last year when the civil service association agreed to allow 10 percent of salaries of civil servants to be paid through the E-zwich platform while the remaining 90 percent goes through the bank. The process was however halted by GhIPSS in December last year due to misunderstanding that, the 10 percent payment on the Ezwich platform will be taken by GhIPSS. But speaking to Citi Business News the Chief Executive Officer of GhIPSS, Mr. Archie Hesse maintained that it is important to restart the process since it is will greatly enhance Ghana’s aim of achieving financial inclusion.
“My understanding is that there was misunderstanding of the 10 percent that was to be put on civil servants e-zwich cards. We all read in the papers that it was felt that that was money that was coming to GhIPSS , no , it was the civil servants 10 percent of their salary would have been paid on to the card,” he said. He stated that the Controller and Accountant General had to step in to halt the process since the civil servants were getting agitated.
“I believe that the Controller and Accountant General rightly advised us to leave it for now until they have sorted it out. The key point is that the engagement is between Controller, the Civil Servants and the unions.
We provide [the] infrastructure to support the payment of salaries,” he explained. Outlining measures taken to reengage the unions and the Controller and Accountant General, Mr. Hesse stated that adequate information has been given to clear the misundertanding.
He observed that it is now in the domain of the other parties to agree to receive part of their salaries through the e-zwich platform. “We provide infrastructure for the Controller and Accountant General to use so they are the business owners they liaise with the civil servants and the unions and they decide on what to do, if they need our support, we support them in that regard,” he said.
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