Former staff of the collapsed Microfinance and Savings and Loans firms have appealed to government to expedite action on the payment of their severance packages.

The staff say their living conditions have been worsened by the hardships occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the ex-staff called on all stakeholders working on their packages to be sensitive to the time and fast track the process.

“In view of the unusual times that we are in now as a result of the global pandemic, we wish to appeal to all involved in this matter. It is worthy to note that for the past seven (7) months, there are some households which have not received any form of income to support their families as a result of both husband and wife being ex-staff of the companies under receivership.

“Due to this involuntary job loss, many ex-staff of the aforementioned institutions are experiencing serious emotional trauma because of the resulting financial hardship. We are currently in a state of despondency, anxiety, hardship and uncertainty.

“We appeal to all who matter in the payment of the severance packages to ensure payment without further delay so that we, the ex-staff can continue with our normal life,” the statement said.

The statement, however, acknowledged work on the severance has begun

Below are details of the statement;

STATEMENT ON OUR SEVERANCE PAYMENT – COALITION OF EX-STAFF OF COLLAPSED MICRO FINANCE COMPANIES (MFI’s) AND SAVINGS AND LOANS COMPANIES (SLC’s)

Pursuant to Section 123 (1) of the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act 2016 (Act 930), the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on 31st May, 2019 and 16th August, 2019, revoked the licenses of some Savings and Loans Companies (hereinafter referred to as “SLCs”) and Microfinance Companies (hereinafter referred to as “MFCs”), placed them under Receivership and appointed Mr. Eric Nana Nipah as Receiver.

Subsequent to that, the Receiver Mr. Eric Nana Nipah, of Price Water House Coopers (PWC) Ghana Limited gave all ex-staff of the affected institutions a temporary Contract of Employment for three and half months, ending November 2019. At the expiry of the contract, 99% of staff’s employment was terminated. It is worth stating, with much pain, that a good number of ex-staff have since not been re-engaged in any form of income-generating activity, even though, much efforts have gone in getting our lives back by engaging ourselves in meaningful income-generating activities.

The Receiver has confirmed his preparedness to fulfil his obligation in accordance with the provisions of the Act, 930 regarding any agreed severance package for ex-staff.

The Industrial and Commercial Worker’s Union (ICU), UNICOV and some ex-staff represented by their lawyers led negotiations with receiver’s appointed labour consultant Austin Gamey for which a Memorandum Of Agreement (MOA) was signed in December 2019. We the ex-staff are also aware that a lot of work has been done on the agreed severance package and it is at the point of approval.

In view of the unusual times that we are in now as a result of the global pandemic, we wish to appeal to all involved in this matter. It is worthy to note that for the past seven (7) months, there are some households which have not received any form of income to support their families as a result of both husband and wife being ex-staff of the companies under receivership.

Due to this involuntary job loss, many ex-staff of the aforementioned institutions are experiencing serious emotional trauma because of the resulting financial hardship. We are currently in a state of despondency, anxiety, hardship and uncertainty.

We appeal to all who matter in the payment of the severance packages to ensure payment without further delay so that we, the ex-staff can continue with our normal life.

Thank you