Pay our severance package or we picket – Ex-staff of collapsed Fund Management Companies

The Coalition of Ex-Staff of the Defunct Fund Management Companies has threatened to picket the offices of the Ministry of Finance if the government fails to pay its severance package by Wednesday, 2 December 2020.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by the coalition and signed by its Spokesperson, Joy Degbazor.

“We have been quiet for a while but we think it is appropriate to voice our challenges now. This is mainly because we were waiting in queue for Government, SEC & RGD to address the challenges of our customers first,” the statement said.

The Coalition indicated that its members lost their jobs in November 2019 when “the Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the license of 53 fund management companies”

It stressed that many of the ex-staff of the Defunct Fund Management “are still at home and not working.”

The statement continued that: “in September 2020, we appealed to government and later engaged the relevant state institutions regarding the payment of our severance package. But sadly, our severance package has not been paid.”

It further continued that “our colleagues, who were with the savings and loans companies, have received their severance package from the government but the same government has refused to pay our severance package. The government knows the general suffering of Ghanaians amid COVID-19 but has failed to offer relief to us, the ex-staff.

“We are unable to pay our rents, feed our families and most importantly take care of our wives and children which has led to the dissolutions of marriages and loss of respect in our homes. In fact, we are suffering.”

The coalition, therefore, called on the government and President Nana Akufo-Addo to make funds available to its members immediately.

It also threatened that: “If we are not paid later than Wednesday 2nd December 2020, we the entire membership of ex-staff, together with our wives, husbands, children and other family members will picket the Finance Ministry.”