Tamale District Council of Labour protest against sale of ADB

The Tamale District Council of Labour (TDCL) and other organised labour on Tuesday staged a two-hour peaceful demonstration through the main streets of the metropolis to protest against the intended sale of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to Stanbic Bank of South Africa.

The workers wore "T" shirts embossed with "ADB not for sale" with red armbands and carried placards.

Some of the placards read: "Selling ADB is like trading our sovereignty", "Stanbic stay away from ADB", "No agric bank, no safe Ghana farms", "Ghanaians are ready to buy ADB" and "Mr. President love your nation as yourself".

The workers later presented a resolution signed by Mr. Bennet Sa-Ambo and Mr. Elvis Abass Mahama, Chairman and Secretary respectively of the TDCL to Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister.

The workers said their opposition to the sale of ADB was because of its strategic position in the economy and the potentially negative implication the acquisition of such an important and strategic national assets by a foreign bank with obvious profit motives would have on the people of northern Ghana.

The resolution said the ADB, as a development bank established with the sole objective of providing credit facilities to farmers, has carried out its mandate satisfactorily in the north in spite of the risks involved in the financial intermediation in the agricultural sector.

It said 80 per cent of the people of northern Ghana are peasant farmers and depend solely on the ADB for financial support and its sale would deprive them of credit facilities.

The TDCL declared its support for the leadership of the Trades Union Congress and farmers and reaffirmed their stand to participate in any activity that would be organised to resist the sale of the ADB.

Alhaji Idris commended the workers for the peaceful manner in which they carried out the demonstration and assured them that their petition would be sent to the appropriate quarters.