NLA Staff demand removal of DG amidst massive demo

Some angry staff of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) are mounting intense pressure on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo not to renew the appointment of their Director General, Mr Kofi Osei Ameyaw.

They accused Mr Osei Ameyaw of bringing the NLA to its knees due to his lack of clear vision and direction to turn the misfortunes of the Authority around.

The staff who embarked on a demonstration at the offices of NLA in Accra Monday 1^st March, 2021 threatened that the President would incur their wrath if the contract of Mr. Ameyaw was extended.

The aggrieved staff who have the full backing of the members of the Association of Lotto Marketing Companies (LMC) and other partners maintained that “since the appointment of Mr Ameyaw, revenue generation has sunk to an all-time low and there is no redemption. “This has made default payments which hitherto was never an issue, extremely difficult”.

The demonstrators mentioned that some of the default payments included but not limited to, payment of wins as at February 2021. Adding that, the authority has outstanding wins estimated at GHc10 Million with some dating back as far as May 2020.

“Currently, staff at the Tamale office of NLA are under serious attacks for non-payment of wins. What is most embarrassing is that staff’s emoluments (inclusive of COS Payments) which has entrenched timelines are currently not being honoured and no concrete reasons are given for such delays”.

The staff alleged that the Acting Director of Finance, Mr Ernest Mote was seriously struggling to meet the authority’s financial obligations due to the constant misappropriation and the financial mess the authority currently finds itself in.

“His fiasco e-kiosk project is dead and cannot be resurrected. He has surrounded Himself with bodyguards (Soldiers and Police) making it difficult for staff to have access to Him. “Currently there is no functioning Human Resource and all Heads of Departments are in acting capacity throughout his tenure; there is no Head for the Legal department, not even an acting Head, all calculated in furtherance of his hidden agenda to run down the authority,” they said.

Mr Ameyaw over the past four years has run down an organization that was at one time the second-largest contributor to the Consolidated Fund to its lowest revenue levels.

They accused him of visiting only three (3) out of the 13 Regional Offices since his appointment as Director General of the authority some four years ago, which they said is a clear indication that staff welfare and working conditions are the least of his worries.