Akufo-Addo and Mills Are Caring Presidents - Ex-GPHA Workers
The over 4,000 ex-workers of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) who continue to fight for their severance benefits, 22 years after they were retrenched by the Authority have heaped praise and blessings on President Nana Akufo-Addo and one of his predecessors, late former President John Evans Atta Mills.
At a meeting in Takoradi recently, the ex-workers took turns to invoke God’s benediction on the two saying of all the presidents who have governed in the Fourth Republic, these two are the most humane and fellow-feeling.
“President Akufo-Addo and former President Mills received our blessings during the meeting because these two are the only ones who have taken decisions to give us justice,” explained, Stephen Ashitey Adjei, alias Moshake, the ex-workers’ leader after the meeting.
“Nana Akufo-Addo and President Mills are what we call caring presidents,” he added.
The meeting had been convened to galvanize the rank and file for a massive demonstration that their leader, vowed to lead if the GPHA does not heed President Akufo-Addo’s instruction to settle their issues.
Moshake had given the GPHA one month to carry out the President’s instruction or incur the demonstration which will see the over four thousand ex-workers mass up at the GPHA and vent their anger against the Authority which has denied them fair treatment 22 years ago.
“The reason why we blessed President Akufo-Addo and former President Mills should be obvious by now – they are the ones who took on our plight and directed the GPHA to do justice. We have still not been paid because of the recalcitrance of the GPHA,” Moshake explained.
Mills was the first to direct that the ex-workers be paid, according to Moshake, who two weeks ago, showed a fiat that the former President had issued to the Transport Ministry to resolve the issue in 2012.
Unfortunately, President Mills died suddenly in office not too long after the fiat in July of the same year, bequeathing the process of justice to his then Vice President, John Mahama.
Mr. Mahama would however ignore the ex-workers and the process altogether, making him enemy number one to the ex-workers.
“In 2016 and 2020, we organized all our friends and our family members to vote against Mr Mahama. This year too we will do the same,” Moshake explained on the sidelines of the meeting.
In the case of President Akufo-Addo, he issued instruction in August last year for the GPHA to sort out the ex-workers’ issue, but the recalcitrant GPHA, has refused.
After Moshake had addressed a press conference two weeks ago, GPHA had responded with the claim that the ex-workers did not deserve anything because the Supreme Court dismissed the ex-workers case, a claim that is not the true reflection of issues considering that out of the over 4,000 ex-workers, the GPHA has paid 5.
The questions as to how the 5 paid ex-workers somehow deserved payment while the over 4,000 of their colleagues do not deserve payment has never been answered by GPHA.
Meanwhile, a number of the ex-workers have lost wives, husbands and children, due to inability to care for them; some have died out of melancholy, some have been stricken by sickness while others have lost their sanity and are roaming the streets due to over-thinking.
“We gave them one month to sort us out or incur the demonstration; it’s been two weeks and I traveled down from Accra to give my colleagues the update. Our schedule is on, if we don’t hear from them in two weeks, then they will hear from us. Enough is enough,” Moshake said.
He thanked President Akufo-Addo for his care and interest but said the directive that the President gave GPHA is being conveniently flouted because it did not have a specific date.
“Next time, we will plead that when His Excellency is issuing such a directive, he should give specific timelines so that the recipient agency will have no wiggle room to do monkey business,” Moshake said.
Meanwhile, the ex-workers were also full of praise for the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin for his assistance and care over the years.
“When he was Minority Leader, the Rt. Hon. Bagbin took it upon himself to follow our case and anytime I, the leader was arrested, he arranged for my release. It is people like Bagbin who should lead parties like the NDC, not wicked, uncaring snobs like John Mahama who is happy to receive fat ex-gratia and turn the weight of justice against the poor and down trodden,” Moshake said.
He reiterated that the ex-workers are ready and will demonstrate in two weeks’ time if the GPHA does not carry out the President’s directive to pay them.
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