Some of the railway workers
Workers of the Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) are crying foul over certain ‘inadequacies’ which may lead to a total shutdown of the company unless there is an intervention from the government.
According to the workers, it is now impossible for the company to generate enough funds to sustain its operations.
“Since the company is a state-owned one, we would have thought that some government support would be extended to it as it was the practice in the past.
But all that we hear is, the company is a limited liability one and therefore should be able to work and generate enough to fund itself. But we disagree with this assertion”, Godwill Ntarmah, General Secretary of the Railway Workers Union told a press conference organized to brief the media on the current happenings at GRCL, in Takoradi.
The General Secretary admitted that the standard gauge rail line construction on the western line from Kojokrom to Huni-valley is progressing steadily.
He, however, indicated that the company, which has staff strength of over one thousand, is facing serious challenges operating on the existing narrow gauge rail line which is in a very bad state coupled with the old and aged rolling stock resulting in a series of derailments.
“It will interest you to note that frantic efforts by the leadership of the Union to have engagements with the President to discuss the current situation facing GRCL have proved futile,” he said.
Mr. Ntarmah mentioned that the current challenges confronting the company have resulted in serious financial constraints which have made the company a Highly Indebted Poor Company (HIPC).
“Three to four month salary arrears were not paid. It took some efforts by the union before some payments were effected.”
“Again, SSNIT payments are in arrears from October 2022 till date which has compelled SSINT to take GRCL to court to enforce payments. The company is also owing GCB Bank millions of cedis while workers’ Tier 2 payments have also not been settled since May 2022”, he revealed.
He continued “Workers’ own deductions to their various credit Unions such as Ghana Ports & Habours Authority (GPHA) credit union and Railway Union Cooperative Mutual Assistance Society (RUCOMAS) have not been done since September 2021”.
“Another issue of great concern to us is the determination of the fate of the GRCL retrenched staff of 2006 which needs to be addressed by the government,” he said.
“We are frustrated and disillusioned. Now we have no option than to engage you and use your media to appeal to the President of the Republic for an engagement with us to save the GRCL from total collapse”, he told the journalists.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi