By Paul Eduarko Richardson/ Abdul Rahman Umar
Accra, Aug. 16, GNA – Concerned ex-employees of the GN Savings and Loans have appealed to President Akufo-Addo to use his executive powers to restore the operating licence of GN Savings.
Mr Kofi Fosu, former Eastern Regional Manager of GN Savings, said this would bring back the lost opportunities to the employees, customers, shareholders and the business community.
“Restoration of GN licence will also help restore the lost confidence in the indigenous Ghanaian entrepreneurs and galvanize the private sector as an engine of economic growth,” he added.
Mr Fosu made the appeal at a press conference in Accra, as the ex-workers marked the fourth anniversary of the revocation of the GN Savings ad Loans’ licence by the Bank of Ghana( August 16, 2019).
The bank’s licence was revoked in 2019 as part of the Government’s banking cleanup exercise after the bank had been reclassified from a commercial bank to a savings and loans company by the Bank of Ghana.
Mr Fosu, also the Convener for the Concerned Ex-Employees, said life after the revocation of the GN licence had been a nightmare for the majority of the employees.
He noted that most of the ex-staff had remained jobless due to limited job opportunities in the country and the stigmatisation they faced.
“Some have died whilst others are battling diseases as a result of depression out of joblessness,” he added.
According to Mr Fosu, ex-workers of GN Savings were enduring precarious living conditions, and were unable to feed their families, pay school fees for their children and were being ejected from their homes due to their inability to pay rent.
He said the revocation of the licence had adversely affected the pensions of the ex-employees.
“Pre-2019 salary levels which have lost their value will be used to calculate our pension if no further contributions are made prior to retirement. Our entire pension is reduced in value through inflation and depreciation of the currency,” he said.
He noted that the ex-employees were struggling to receive their Tier 3 (Provident Fund) contributions from the Receiver of GN Savings, NPRA and NBC Trust, the fund administrators.
The Convener also said the revocation had caused many of their customers to lose their working capital and businesses, adding that, many of them had not been able to build their lives back after the revocation.
He said some of the assets of the bank were in a deplorable state, and that the Receiver of GN Savings had not done much to safeguard those assets.
“GN buildings, vehicles, generators, air-conditioner units, computers and office furniture have been left unattended for the past 4 years. Several of the assets have been left to the mercy of the weather. Miscreants have stolen and desecrated valuable equipment of the bank,” Mr Fosu said.
The Concerned Ex-Employees of GN Savings assured that “Shareholders, employees, and customers are willing to work together to revive the bank to its past glory the moment the licence is restored.”
GNA