The Association of Lotto Marketing Companies of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) has extolled NLA Director, Kofi Osei Ameyaw, for his performance in office.

According to the group, Mr Ameyaw has introduced several measures to boost the sector and wondered why some persons are working to destroy his hard-earned reputation.

A statement signed by Kofi Frimpong, General Secretary of the Association, noted that Mr Ameyaw’s critics are out to get him because his new measures are blocking their dubious deals.

The statement said: “We have observed with much concern the plot being hatched against the hard working Director General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), honourable Kofi Osei Ameyaw, by some disgruntled elements in order to destroy his hard-won reputation. All is because of the progressive policies that he has initiated, which have the tendency to turn things around at the NLA.”

In the group’s view, the measures are affecting Mr Ameyaw’s critics’ “unholy interests”, hence the “sustained scurrilous attacks on him”. “We are, indeed, overwhelmed for his outstanding performance as the Director General of the NLA for the introduction of prudent and innovative management practices that have seen a remarkable improvement in the operations of the NLA…”

“Ever since the Director General assumed office with the active support of the board of the NLA, he has taken measures to streamline the operations of the organisation. Immediately, when he took office, the NLA started recording outrageous winnings to the extent that prizes occasionally exceeded sales. Some times as high as 144%”, which, in the group’s view, meant that he must “either be sacked for displaying incompetence or be maintained for to run down the NLA”.

“That was the initial plan. Meanwhile, most of these outrageous wins turn out not to be genuine, but they were made in such a way that it would be difficult to detect for the culprits to be apprehended. To be able to stem this tide, he decided to take some measures to block the leakages. Some of the measures he took were to call for the sales data from the service providers before the draw of the numbers. When that was done, the outrageous wining has reduced drastically and the percentages now have come down to between 44% and 50%. That was a smart move to save state funds from going into private pockets.

“We have stated it before and would like to reiterate that before he came, there was a delay in the payment of the monthly lotto commission to the lotto marketing companies (LMCS), sometimes for two weeks after every month. Now under his administration, we are experiencing a timely payment of our commission. This happens three working days after the end of the month. This, indeed, relieved us of difficulties that we had to go through in our operations. Even the monies that were used to pay the commission were overdrafts which cost the NLA (GHS 66,000.00) a month as interest on the overdraft. By so doing, he has been able to save the NLA from paying the sum of GHS792,000.00 annually. If he has been able to reverse these negative trends, must he be vilified and crucified?”

The statement added: “We cannot also forget the efforts that he made to convince government to abolish the nuisance taxes that were undermining NLA revenue generating efforts.

“We wish to express our sincere thanks to his Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akofo-Addo, president of the Republic of Ghana for appointing such a competent person to head an important institution like the NLA. This shows that he is, indeed, an expert human resource engineer. We congratulate him for that.

“We will like to make it clear and understandable for those who are bent on throwing negative propaganda against him to desist from doing so since whatever agenda they have set will fail. We also assure the board and management of the NLA and the government of our total support and cooperation at all times.”