Staff of defunct microfinance companies besiege ICU offices

Some aggrieved ex-staff of defunct microfinance and savings and loans companies have besieged the offices of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) in Accra to mount pressure on the Receiver of the companies to pay their outstanding salaries and exit packages.

The Receiver announced on Sunday that an agreement has been reached with the Bank of Ghana to engage the affected staff to pay them outstanding salaries and exit packages.

In a statement issued on Sunday, July 12, Receiver Eric Nana Nipah of PricewaterhouseCoopers (Ghana) Limited assured the affected staff that engagement will begin on Monday.

But the former workers will have none of it as they held placards on Monday morning at the forecourt of ICU’s office in Accra to get them to force the Receiver to act with promptness.

The Receiver had assured that the move to have the Central Bank pre-finance the payments is as a result of the effects of the Covid-19 on the staff.

Most of the placards lamented the vagaries of the pandemic on these aggrieved staff.

In total, staff of 347 microfinance companies and 23 savings and loans firms are to be paid.