Organised Labour has strongly denied accusations that its leadership was financially compromised by the government after it decided to cancel a nationwide strike originally planned for October 10.
The strike was intended to protest the government’s lack of action in combating illegal mining, also known as galamsey.
Following the cancellation, some critics have alleged that Organised Labour had accepted bribes to abandon their protest.
However, president of the Coalition of Concern Teachers (CCT) and a prominent figure in Organised Labour, King Ali Awudu, rejected these claims, calling them baseless.
Awudu pointed out that the union’s actions had already achieved important progress, including a commitment from the government to take concrete measures.
He noted that within a month, the government had agreed to revoke the Legislative Instrument (LI) allowing mining in forest reserves.
He further clarified that the decision to halt the strike was based on the tangible outcomes of their negotiations with the government, dismissing any suggestion of financial inducement.
“Whenever somebody is of a certain opinion, and another has a dissenting opinion the easy thing some people in this country would do is to accuse you of going to A or B. But mind you, so many organisations in this country have threatened to do certain things about galamsey but the government never mind them, including the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
“Since December 2023, they have issued notices to the government to revoke the LI that allows mining in forest reserves, but the government has never minded them.
“Organised Labour comes in and in less than a month, the government has issued the directives for the LI to be revoked. This is what we want. It is being achieved. Why do we go on strike?” he asked.