Defunct Gold Coast Securities customers picket at Finance Ministry

Scores of customers of defunct Gold Coast Securities have besieged the premises of the Ministry of Finance to demand payment of their locked-up funds.

Clad in red attire, the ag­grieved customers who num­bered about 100, held placards with various inscriptions including “more than 800 pension­ers are dead due to locked-up funds,” “release our money,” “pay us our money,” “our health is deteriorating” and “act now, Finance Minister.”

According to them, they were embarking on a 32-hour pick­eting at the ministry to express their frustration regarding the undue delay in the payments of their funds.

The customers converged on the ministry on Tuesday evenin­gand passed the night sleeping on chairs and later, mattresses provided by leaders of ‘FixThe­Country’ group.

The picketing continued yesterday with the customers displaying their placards amidst wailing and chanting.

There were heavy police pres­ence at the premises to ensure law and order.

Mr Charles Nyarko, the Con­vener of the aggrieved customer, in an interview with the Ghanaian Times yesterday indicated that they could no longer cope with the economic difficulties of the country.

He said the customers had resolved to picket at the premises of the ministry until the govern­ment paid their locked-up funds to enable them to cope with the economic challenges they face.

“We are demanding pay­ment from the Finance Ministry for the monies that have been approved way back in 2021 for our payment that has not been disbursed. We had interactions with the minister, but all he could say was for them to assist us.

I mean, the Finance Ministry wants us, the customers, to go after the company shareholders to stop the court challenging the liquidation so they pay us. This is unheard of. There is no way we can take the law into our hands,” Mr Nyarko added.

He said the continuous delay in the payment of the funds was difficult to understand consider­ing that the group have had series of engagement with the Ministry of Finance and Minister of State, in charge of Finance, Dr Mo­hammed Amin Adam.

“The government is being insensitive towards us. We cannot go after the Gold Coast Fund management shareholders, Dr Papa Kwasi Nduom and the others. That is not our job to do. The government should be working in pursuit of our inter­ests,” he added.

Mrs Agnes Mensah, one of the aggrieved customers, said she was struggling to care for her family because of her locked-up funds and appealed to the government to expedite the payment.”