Ex-UT, Capital Bank Staff Insist On Exit Pay

Distressed former workers of the defunct UT Bank and Capital Bank have stated that the laws governing liquidation in Ghana must be critically re-examined because they leave employees very vulnerable and dispensable.

At a press conference yesterday in Accra, the former employees said they were fighting for posterity by bringing the plight of workers during liquidation to the fore.

“We are not only suffering financially, we are suffering psychologically, socially and emotionally. We can only be grateful to God for how far he has brought us, especially in a society without strong support systems to deal with the financial and psychosocial impact of issues of such magnitude.”

Commending the action taken by government and Central Bank to protect depositors’ funds, they said: “One missing ingredient in such equation is the plight of the workers of defunct banks.

“Over the past few weeks, the posture of the Bank of Ghana anytime our plight has come up in media interactions have been for us to deal with the receivers. We believe that this high-level insensitivity to our plight is highly discomforting and most unfortunate.

“Our current plight of despair, joblessness, anxieties, pain and discomfort emanates from the direct action of the Bank of Ghana and by extension the government to practically liquidate our banks. In taking these decisions, were our plight and that of our dependants not considered?”

Agony

“It has been eight agonizing months since our institutions collapsed and we have kept our mouths shut in the hope that the Bank of Ghana and the government, by extension, would seek our interests.

“We genuinely believe that we would not be left this worse off. It’s unfortunate that eight months down the line we have not received our Exit Pay, majority of us are jobless and the few who were lucky to have been employed by GCB Bank are also worse off in terms of remuneration.

ESB saga

“For our former colleagues at Capital Bank, it’s instructive to note that their End of Service Benefit, which they contributed from their own salaries on monthly basis and was invested on their behalf by CBL Investments, have still not been paid despite instructions by the Joint Receivers to pay. We would like to pose a simple question to CBL Investments; is our ESB missing?”

On 14th August, 2017, staff of former Capital Bank and UT Bank, were hit with the shocking and devastating news that in line with Section 123 of the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930), the Bank of Ghana had revoked the licenses of two banks due to severe impairment of capital.

It also appointed Messrs Vish Ashiagbor and Eric Nana Nipah both Directors of PricewaterhouseCoopers (Ghana) Limited as Joint Receivers.

GCB Bank was authorized by Bank of Ghana to take over the management of the defunct banks under a Purchase and Assumption Agreement.

Per the Joint Receivers’ letter dated 15th January, 2018, an agreement was reached with UNICOF, which required representatives to offer an exit package to all staff of the defunct banks.

However, nothing has been paid to staff.

Appealing to the President, Vice President, Trades Union Congress, among other stakeholders, they stated: “We are therefore appealing for all entitlements to be paid to us as a matter of urgency.”

Source: Daily Guide