The number comprises 168 males and 81 females, 120 of the total figure recruited from the 147 were persons who had undertaken the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) programme with the organisation.
The new employees have been engaged as permanent meteorologists, assistant meteorologists, meteorologist technicians, and support services staff.
Their engagement brings the total number of staff of the agency to 556.
Ahead of their deployment, they were taken through training and orientation to equip them to collect and process data, conduct analysis and weather forecasts, among others.
They were deployed at an event in Accra to climax the GMet meteorological awareness creation month commemorating the World Meteorological Day celebrations.
The awareness month, which was dubbed: “The Future of Weather, Climate and Water Across Generations”, was to highlight the role meteorology plays in the economy, disaster management and early preparedness, and to inform the public of the climate services of the agency.
Government’s commitment
The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said the employment of the 249 staff for GMet attested to the government’s commitment to equip the agency to deliver its mandate.
She said the acute staffing shortage affected the operations of GMet as a specialised institution.
She said the amendment of the GMet establishment Act, Act 682 (2004) to broaden the composition of the GMet Governing Board and set out sustainable sources of funding for the operations of the agency was among government interventions extended to the agency.
She said the government had also secured 15 operational vehicles for the agency, procured calibration equipment and installed a message switching system for the organisation.
“Several other automatic weather stations have been installed with funds from government to expand GMet’s network of stations across the country,” she said.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the ministry would continue to provide the necessary operational support and guidance to ensure that the agency was properly positioned to contribute to climate and weather services delivery.
The Board Chairman of GMet, George Amoo, said the importance of meteorology and climate information could not be overemphasised.
“We need these investments now for a return in the immediate future in sub-sectors where weather services are, particularly, relevant such as agriculture, health, construction, energy, insurance, telecommunication, tourism, aviation, logistics and water availability,” he said.
Critically important
These sectors, he said, were critically important as they contributed to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country, and were highly prone to climate variability and change.
The acting Director-General of GMet, Eric Asuman, said over the years, the organisation had had to deal with inadequate staff which at a point led to the close down of a number of stations and offices of the agency in some parts of the country.
He said the organisation, which had an ageing staff, had experienced continuous decline in staff strength since 2009, and that the agency’s staff strength of 523 in December 2009 had dropped to 322 by December 2021.