Doctors declare indefinite strike over SSNIT-Rock City deal

The Ghana Medical Association has declared an indefinite strike action following an order by Organised Labour for all workers in Ghana to stop working from Monday, July 15, 2024.

In a statement cited by GhanaWeb, the association indicated that its decision to embark on the industrial action is because it is a member of Organised Labour.

It noted that the action is to demand the cancellation of the deal for the sale of 60% shares in four hotels of the state-owned Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

“Organised Labour, of which the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is a member, has declared an indefinite industrial action. This is to press home the demand for the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to terminate the sale of sixty percent (60%) of its shares in the four (4) hotels,” part of the statement which was issued on Friday, July 12, 2024, reads.

The doctors went ahead to give a roadmap for the withdrawal of their services.

From Monday, July 15, 2024, to Wednesday, July 17, 2024, the doctors will withdraw all Out Patient Department (OPD) services.

From Thursday, July 18, 2024, to Sunday, July 21, 2024, they will withdraw their emergency services.

From Monday, July 22, 2024, onwards they will withdraw all their services till SSNIT announces the cancellation of the Rock City deal.

The action of the doctors comes after Organised Labour, comprising the Trades Union Congress, announced a strike action starting from Monday over the approval of the deal to sell shares of the 4 SSNIT hotels to Rock City Hotel Limited, which belongs to the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong.

The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, who is also in charge of Ghana's pension sector, stated that the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) had approved the sale of the 60% share of the four hotels, which are the Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Elmina Beach Resort, and Ridge Royal Hotel.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, July 11, 2024, Baffour-Awuah clarified that the authority only directed SSNIT to halt the process for the sale of the shares of the hotels in order to look into certain issues which have now been resolved.

Reacting to this in a joint statement issued on Friday, July 12, 2024, Organised Labour stated that it still stands by its position that the deal to sell the hotels was not in the interest of Ghanaian workers, which it told President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a meeting on June 25, 2024.

It went ahead to instruct all workers in Ghana not to go to work from Monday till SSNIT announces the termination of the deal to sell the shares of the four hotels.

View the statement of the doctors below:



BAI/ ADG

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