Workers at the southern sector of the Agricultural Development Bank(adb) have rejected directives from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to suspend impending demonstrations regarding the running of the bank.<\/p>\n
The bank was scheduled to offload about 100 million shares \u00a0representing 75 percent ownership of the bank to raise about GH\u00a2300 million.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”Tfn0TUuun362kpMiDLc8hWckPEXsYDDL”]The workers \u00a0however kicked against the IPO and demanded a detailed audit into the books of the bank before taking the bank public.<\/p>\n
They also demanded the dissolution of the adb board of governors as well as the dismissal of the bank\u2019s Managing Director<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>over alleged misappropriation of funds and gross mismanagement and also\u00a0threatened to stage a demonstration to protest the new directives.<\/p>\n President John Mahama on May Day subsequently announced that he had directed the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu to resolve the impasse<\/a><\/strong> <\/span>between adb workers and management.<\/p>\n The Minister in negotiating with the bank ordered that it halts its intended demonstration and\u00a0the Initial Public Offer (IPO) of bank shares, as well as the intended sale of the bank\u2019s head office .<\/p>\n The leadership of the Union of Commerce, Industry and Finance (UNICOF) workers, have been holding meetings with employees of of the bank to consider the ministry\u2019s directive.<\/p>\n Though they complied with some directives given by the bank, the group has rejected the Minister’s order on the planned demonstration.<\/p>\n The General Secretary of UNICOF, John Esiape in an interview with Citi News, \u00a0said the workers of the bank in Accra have rejected the Minister\u2019s call to end planned protests.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Accra meeting totally rejected the Minister\u2019s request so we are going to the other regions to see what will happen,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Esiape also told Citi News that although he is yet to meet employees \u00a0from the Central and Northern branches of the country, calls he has received indicate that those employees will largely back the stance of their colleagues in Accra.<\/p>\n “I will not want to prempt what the discussion will be but I think it wil be proper for us to go. There may be dissenting views where we can all negotiate together and know what appropriate response to give to the Minister.”<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Efe Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @EfeAnsah<\/a>
\n