They show up. Every morning, they travel to their posts across Ghana’s districts, municipalities, and regions. They carry out official responsibilities.
And for fourteen months, they have worked for no pay. These are the personnel of the National Disaster Management Organisation — NADMO.
Hundreds of them, recruited after the change in government, have not received a single salary since they assumed duty. The Ghana News Agency investigated and reported the backlog. The workers spoke on condition of anonymity, afraid of reprisal.
How does a government agency function when its staff cannot cover household expenses? How do workers pay rent, educate their children, or see a doctor?
The answer, from the GNA report, is grim. Some workers described traveling long distances each day using borrowed money. Others have accumulated debt just to survive.
“We have served the nation diligently despite the difficulties,” one group told GNA. Another employee called the situation “heartbreaking and demoralising.” This is not a small glitch. The salary problems hit personnel at all levels — district, municipal, regional offices.
Many workers lack official staff identification cards. That absence creates uncertainty about their employment status.
It raises questions about the administrative processes inside the organisation. Workers expressed frustration that validation exercises meant to process salaries were arranged — and then cancelled. No one specified how many workers are affected.
No one said how much money is owed. But the scale of hardship is plain from the accounts.
NADMO is the body charged with disaster management. In a country prone to floods, fires, and other emergencies, it is not a luxury. It is a necessity.
Yet the government appears unable or unwilling to pay the people who staff it. The question that hangs over this is not small. Did the government recruit these workers knowing there was no budget for their salaries?
Or did the budget exist and then evaporate? The GNA report does not say.
But the workers are still on the job. They are still reporting to their posts. They are still carrying out official duties.
Fourteen months is a long time. Long enough for a worker to exhaust savings.
Long enough to fall behind on rent. Long enough for children to miss school fees. Long enough for debt to become a permanent shadow.
The workers who spoke to GNA did so anonymously. They fear reprisal. That fear itself tells a story.
People who have not been paid for fourteen months still worry about losing their jobs. That is not the sign of a healthy system.
Some might ask why these workers stay. The report does not answer that directly. But it is clear they feel a sense of duty.
They describe serving the nation diligently despite the difficulties. That diligence has not been rewarded.
The investigation did not name any officials responsible for the backlog. It did not say whether the Finance Ministry or the Interior Ministry — the parent ministry for NADMO — has acknowledged the problem. It simply laid out the facts.
Those facts are stark. Hundreds of disaster management personnel working without pay. No identification cards.
Validation exercises promised and then cancelled. Workers borrowing money just to get to work.
Fourteen months of this. There is no tidy conclusion here. The workers remain unpaid.
The government has not explained itself. The validation exercises remain cancelled.
The staff identification cards have not arrived. And every day, the workers keep showing up.
