Fire Officers Fired - For Getting Pregnant

The Ghanaian fight and struggle to eliminate all forms of injustices meted out to women has been dealt a strong blow as the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has dismissed female personnel for getting pregnant. Information gathered by this paper indicates that female personnel whose appointments were confirmed on June 1, 2012 in a letter signed by Ag. Chief Fire Officer, Brigadier General J.B.E Guyiri, and copied to the Regional Fire Officer, Director of Accounts and Administration (Records & Statistics) after passing through a stipulated six-month training and another six-months of probation, were issued dismissal letters on June 14, 2013. The said letter, which copy this paper has intercepted, partly read: �You were recruited into the service on the 1st of August, 2011. You were supposed to serve for six months after passing out and be confirmed.� ��As stated in the Conditions of Service, you are expected to serve the first three years before you could get pregnant. However, you violated the said Condition of Service. You are hereby dismissed from the Service with immediate effect.� It concluded that: �By copy of this letter Regional Fire Officer (Greater Accra) is to retrieve all Service kits in your custody.� The dismissal letter was copied to the Interior minister, Controller and Accountant General�s Department and the Auditor-General. According to the victims, they suspect foul play and further alleged that few individuals in the Service�s top hierarchy were behind their dismissal. One of them who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity said the reasons given for their dismissal were not stated in any section of the GNFS�s service code [Conditions of Service]. A deep throat source told Today that part one of the Conditions of Service which is captioned Qualification for recruits and career progression has only section 1 sub-sections A to E [strictly for Recruits] and section 2 sub-sections A to C [for junior Firemen and women] spelling out what bounds junior Firemen and women, arguing out that there is nowhere in the document where one ought to serve for the first three years before getting pregnant. The source further stressed that the personnel [senior officers] were taking advantage of women in the Service and urged the Ministry of Women, Gender and Social Protection (MoWGSP) to- as a matter of urgency- probe their dismissal to ensure equity, fairness and justice in the Service. Against this background, the source called on President John Dramani Mahama and the Interior Minister, Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, to look into the matter. According to the GNFS�s Conditions of Service which this paper has a copy, Part 1, section 1 reads: A person who holds a minimum of a Secondary School Certificate of Education (SSCE,) a Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Certificate Stage II, a City and Guilds Certificate, Intermediate (CGC Inter,) a National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) or their equivalent may be enlisted and initially appointed a Recruit Fireman or Fire woman in the GNFS (herein after called �the Service�) if such: Is a citizen; Is of good character; Is of eighteen years (18) and above but not more than twenty-eight (28) years; Is physically and mentally fit by standards of the Service, and; Being a male, is of minimum height of 1.60 metres or being a female is of minimum height of 1.40 metres. But in the case of professionals, this standard may be lowered. The Section 2 reads: A Recruit Fireman or Fire woman may be eligible to be promoted to the rank of Fireman or Fire woman if he or she successfully completed basic training in firemanship at the Fire Academy and Training School (s); Is of good character, and; successfully serves a six-month probation after passing out from the Fire Academy and Training School(s). The GNFS� own code does not state anywhere that female personnel were supposed to serve three years before getting pregnant. Some of the aggrieved personnel alleged that authorities at GNFS do not use the Service�s own code in their operations. They therefore dared the Service to quote any section of the code which prevents female personnel from getting pregnant during the first three years of work. In this light, they assumed the position that no proper reasons have been assigned for their dismissal hence the act manifests a clear breach of the Labour Law, Act 651 (2013). When our reporter contacted the Public Relations Officer of GNFS, Prince Anaglatey, via phone on Wednesday, May 14, he confirmed that some female personnel have been sacked, but pleaded that with our reporter to call him the next day [Thursday, May 15], because he was on his way at the time to Koforidua.