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The Ashanti branch of the Coalition of Unpaid Nurses and Midwives-Ghana, on Tuesday went on a protest march in Kumasi to back their demand for the government to pay them their salaries which have been in arrears for 19 months. They were made up of personnel from the Registered General Nurses (RGN), Registered Midwives (RM), Registered Mental Nurses (RMN), Registered Community Nurses (RCN), Enrolled Nurses (EN) and Certified Community Nurses (CCN). PLACARDS Amidst singing and dancing, the aggrieved nurses held placards some of which read �A hungry nurse is silent a killer�; �we are suffering, we need our money�, �Mr Minister were you not paid last month? What about the nurse?�, �Who fights for the unpaid nurse�, �Mr Incompetent President pay us our money,� among others. Clad in their uniforms and wearing red armbands, the demonstrators went through some principal streets of the Kumasi metropolis. They started from the National Culture Centre and ended up at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) where they presented a petition. PETITION The Regional Security Liaison Officer, Mr Bimpong Marfo, who received the petition on behalf of the regional minister, commended the nurses for comporting themselves and embarking on a peaceful demonstration. The nurses, who said they had been working between six to 19 months without salary, are asking the government to pay them their salary arrears or face more demonstrations. According to them, �the government must pay all salaries and outstanding arrears due us by November 30, 2014�. COURT THREAT �Failure by government to meet the above stated deadline means heading to the law court to seek redress,� they said. The National Coordinator of the nurses, Mr Jefferson Asare Danquah, told the media that it had not been easy for the nurses working all these while without salary. He said those who were living on their trainee allowances have had it withdrawn by the government and this had made life unbearable for them. According to him, even the facilities where they were working were not giving them anything to alleviate their plights and as such some of them had to depend on loans, family and friends to make ends meet. This, he said, could not be allowed to continue when they had been employed and should be on salaries. �Which government appointee stays for even three months without salaries?� he quipped. He warned that there would be a series of such demonstrations nationwide to ensure that they receive what was due them, indicating that from Kumasi, they would be going to the Volta Region in a fortnight and follow it up to the northern regions.