TIG Post

Tag: Abdul-Moomin Gbana

  • TUC to protest today over dismissal of Sunon Asogli workers

    TUC to protest today over dismissal of Sunon Asogli workers

    In solidarity with the Ghana Mine Workers’ Union, the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) will stage a protest today, May 9, against what it claims a violation of workers’ rights by a Chinese corporation, Sunon Asogli Power Ghana.

    This follows the expiry of an ultimatum given by various unions for the company to reinstate contract workers whose appointments were terminated for allegedly joining the Ghana Mine Workers’ Union.

    Secretary General of TUC, Dr. Yaw Baah said the Police in Tema have been notified of the protest.

    Dr. Yaw Baah, addressing journalists said, “We need to show that we are a union, and we have to do what unions do. What unions do is very clear in the actions we take. The minister came in but there was no success. This last Friday, May 5, we were in a meeting with Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, for two hours plus, and we also met the leaders and management for four hours and nothing came out of it”.

    Dr. Yaw Baah said TUC and sector unions under it will continue to fight until their demands are met.

    “Our demand is very simple, our three brothers should be reinstated now. They have done nothing wrong, they only exercised their rights. People want to join the union, and they are losing their jobs? We should never allow this to happen. Eat well and reserve your energy because today we will take action, we are prepared. We are going to fight and fight until we win, so get ready. You [Sunon Asogli Ghana Limited] cannot deny workers of Ghana the right to unionise. Labour is not a commodity you can buy from the shelf, use it and throw it away,” Dr. Yaw Baah stated.

    Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers’ Union of TUC Abdul-Moomin Gbana says a series of protests and industrial actions will also be held if their demands are not met.

    “TUC has resolved to use every means including protest marches, picketing, demonstrations, strike actions across the industry and the country to demand the reinstatement of the three dismissed local union leaders of Sunon Asogli Ghana Limited. We will also work with TUC Ghana and all organised groups and those abroad to demand the reinstatement of the leaders, and halt the notorious acts of intimidation and victimisation by Sunon Asogli Ghana Limited without further delay,” Abdul-Moomin Gbana stated.

  • Mineworkers Union opposes debt exchange programme

    According to the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU), any debt restructuring plan that may have a negative effect on employees’ pensions and personal life savings is opposed.

    The Union reaffirmed, “We will do all within our power to ensure that our members are properly safeguarded and that not even a pesewa of pension funds is lost in the debt restructuring exercise.

    GMWU General Secretary Abdul-Moomin Gbana spoke at the National Executive Council meeting in Accra.

    He urged the government to halt the exportation of raw materials and add value to the country’s natural resources to boost foreign investment.

    “Africa’s vast mineral wealth should be an important driver of its structural transformation.

    “It is clear that Africa has not harnessed the full potential of its mineral endowments for sustainable, inclusive development,” he said.

    He said inflation in emerging markets and developing economies was expected to increase from 5.9 percent in 2021 to 9.9 percent in 2022 before declining to 8.1 percent in 2023.

    In Ghana, the latest data indicate that headline inflation accelerated to 40.4 percent in October 2022 from 37 percent, 2 percent in September, and 33.9 percent in August.

    In the 2023 budget statement, the Government introduced an additional income tax bracket of 35 percent from 30 percent and an increase in the Value-Added Tax (VAT) rate by two and a half percentage points from 12.5 percent to 15 percent.

    On the E-levy, the Government has reduced the rate to one percent of the transaction value and removed the daily threshold of GHC 100.

    Commenting on the taxes, Mr Gbana called on the Government to review the increases in the VAT rate and maintain the daily threshold for the e-levy.

    He said amidst all the tax reforms, the depreciation of the cedi continued to mount intense pressure on mortgages, making the servicing of or access to mortgage loans or financing extremely difficult for the working people of this country.

    Mr Gbana said the trade unions were poised to join the fight against corruption to address the financial leakages in the system and ensure that resources were fairly distributed.

    Research by a consortium, including the Institute for Statistical, Social, and Economic Research (ISSER) has also revealed that Ghana lost more than $2 billion in taxes alone in 2017 due to the undervaluation of gold exports.

    Mr. Kwesi Pratt, the General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana, urged organised labour to help build a strong society for the country’s development.

    He said the Union had huge potential to play a leading role in building a new trade union movement.

    Mr. Mensah Kwarko Gyakari, the National Chairman of the Union, called on the leadership of the Trade Union Congress to continue to fight for the interests of workers, especially Ghanaian mine workers on fixed contract terms.

     

  • Ghana Mine Workers Union calls for increased local participation in sector

    As the country’s economy continues to struggle and the cedi rapidly depreciates now might be the time to consider active local participation in the country’s extractive sector.

    The Ghana mine workers union believes this is critical to checking the repatriation of funds from the country abroad which have contributed to the dire state of the country.

    General secretary of the Ghana mine workers union, Abdul-Moomin Gbana stressed that increasing indigenous investment in the mining sector is critical to salvaging Ghana’s economy.

    “If you look at the small-scale mining sector, you have about 80 per cent retention of receipts from mining, 20 to 25 per cent can go out for capital expenditure and other expenses and so clearly, if you look at the two algorithms then clearly, the small-scale mining is more beneficial”

    “And so it means that if we increase our stake or if we are able to raise indigenous Ghanaians to participate actively in mining or the state increases its stake in these mining companies, what it does is the receipts that we generate will definitely come back into the Ghanaian shores and that we will be able to shore up our position as a country.” He added

    The Ghana cedi for instance is facing tough times as it at some point last week traded at GHS15 to the dollar.

    The local has depreciated significantly in recent months and at the beginning of the week, the cedi was noted as the world’s worst-performing currency.

    That took its losses this year to more than 45 per cent.

    The Ghana Union of Traders Associations GUTA for instance believes the challenge with the currency can partly be blamed on the repatriation of funds by multinationals in the country and has called for the regulation of their activities.

    Mr Agbana spoke to Citi Business News on the sidelines of a workshop on the gold mining sector organized by Public Services International.

    The two-day regional workshop on the gold mining sector was to identify tax incentive regimes in the sector and estimate the loss to domestic resource mobilization and, while learning from other experiences, provide information on the implication for resource sovereignty, public service development, jobs, and sustainable development.

     

  • Ghana Mines Workers Union worried over growing insecurity in mining areas

    The Ghana Mines Workers Union is worried about what it describes as growing insecurity and attacks on mine workers in mining areas. The Union claim the attacks and insecurity were being perpetrated by some disgruntled and displaced small-scale illegal miners. They, thus, want Government to address the trend which appears to be gaining grounds.

    Mr Abdul-Moomin Gbana, Secretary to the Union, made the allegations during a meeting with Mr George Mireku Duker, a Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, in-charge of Mines, in Accra.

    He said since the illegal miners were displaced, they had devised a plan of invading the concessions of legal mining operators, thus resulting in frequent threats and attacks.

    Mr Gbana pleaded with the government to beef up security in those areas, by deploying the police or the military to halt such attacks on its members.

    He also asked the Ministry to investigate the conditions of service of local mine workers since most of them did not have well-defined employment contracts.

    He noted that most of the mine workers were engaged on a temporary basis by the large-scale foreign mining firms without any proper employment contract and job security.

    Mr Gbana underscored the need for a review of the contracts with some foreign mining firms to increase local participation and welfare.

    “We should relook at the 90 to 10 per cent agreement and shift from tax regime to value addition for greater benefits.

    “The narrative should change because Ghanaians must be directly involved. This requires capacity building and state intervention and support,” Mr Gbana stressed.

    The Deputy Minister indicated that the Government was reviewing most of the contract agreements it had signed with the mining companies to improve the benefits to Ghanaians.

    “We would ensure increased local content participation, not only for the welfare of workers but also outsourcing of some production activities and technology transfer to Ghanaians,” he said.

    Source: GNA