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Ghc400 million UT/Capital Bank Recovery: Ex-staff Appeal For Payment Of Exit Package

Press Release Ghc400 million UTCapital Bank Recovery: Ex-staff Appeal For Payment Of Exit Package
OCT 17, 2018 LISTEN

The Ex-employees of erstwhile UT and Capital Banks have taken note of the recovery of GHC400million from the sale of assets of the two defunct banks.

The Joint Receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers (Ghana) in a statement issued on October 9 said it had realized over GHC 400million through its sale and recovery efforts to help clear the liabilities of the banks.

Although the Joint Receiver admits that the recoveries will help in paying creditors of the bank including employees, it is important to highlight the fact that it has been 14 long months since the collapse of the two institutions and ex-employees haven’t received their exit package.

Information available to the group indicates that the total liabilities for staff is about GHC40m which is just 10% of what has been recovered so far by the Joint Receivers.

Our lives have been in jeopardy since our banks were liquidated and we are therefore appealing to the authorities to intervene and see the ex-employees as a priority and pay their Exit Package and other benefits considering their plight since the unexpected fold up of their banks.

Background
On the 14th of August, 2017, ex-employees of the defunct UT and Capital Banks were hit with the shocking news that in line with section 123 of the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930), Bank of Ghana had revoked the licenses of our respective Banks due to severe impairment of capital and has appointed Messrs Vish Ashiagbor and Eric Nana Nipah both Directors of PricewaterhouseCoopers (Ghana) Limited as Joint Receivers for the purpose of winding down the affairs of the two Banks.

As a result of the receivership, the Joint Receivers terminated the contracts of staff numbering about 1,200. On the 19th of September, 2017 the employees engaged Union of Commerce, Industry and Finance (UNICOF) to negotiate an Exit Pay on our behalf.

On the 13th of November, 2017 negotiations were held with the Joint Receiver and as per the Joint Receivers’ letter dated 15th January, 2018, an Exit Pay was agreed for all ex-staff.

Despite this agreement, we never received what was due us, necessitating a submission of a petition to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo on 20th of May, 2018. Sadly, we are yet to receive even an acknowledgement of the receipt of the petition.

Cry of innocent workers
We would like to stress that in these 14 months, life has been tougher than many of us anticipated. We are struggling to feed, pay medical bills, pay rent, pay school fees for our children and also cater for our other dependents. We are basically struggling to survive. Unfortunately, some of us have lost their lives within this torrid period, leaving behind children and other dependents.

The job market is already difficult and the current happenings in the banking industry have made it even tougher for us to get jobs in fields we feel most qualified for. Worse of all, those of us from defunct banks are suffering from the stigma of having worked for a defunct bank. Many of us with the intention of starting our own businesses do not also have the required capital.

14 months down the line, we are not only suffering financially, we are still suffering socially and psychologically with no provision for any planned counselling. We are even broke and cannot pay medicals bills nor feed, how can we even pay for counselling?

While we believe that the overall effect of the Bank of Ghana’s action is to sanitize the Banking Industry, we believe that we the innocent staff have just been thrown away with the bath water to wallow in poverty and distress and to suffer psychologically, physically and socially.

It appears all our cry in the media has fallen on deaf ears but we pray and hope this cry will be given the needed attention.

Staff Of Former Capital Bank And UT

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