The Workers of the Ghana Railway Company Limited, GRCL have expressed concern about the current state of the railway sector as well as the welfare of staff.
Addressing the press in Takoradi, the General Secretary of the Ghana Railway Workers Union, Mr. Goodwill Ntarmah mentioned that over One Thousand staff are operating on the existing narrow gauge rail lines whose state is nothing to write home about.
He said the press conference is a means to update the citizenry and authorities on the current happenings of the company.
He highlighted that credit union contributions, other dues, and SSNIT payments for workers are still in arrears since October 2022 to date.
” The Ghana Railway Company Limited, a fully-owned company of the state of Ghana with no shareholders, and a staff strength of over one thousand workers is having serious challenges operating on the existing narrow gauge rail line which is in a very bad state coupled with the old and aged rolling stop resulting in series of derailment every now and then.
The above challenges have resulted in serious financial constraints which easily qualify the company as a Highly Indebted Poor Company, HIPIC.
As we speak salaries, could go into three or four months’ arrears before some effects are made to affect some payments.
Again SSNIT payments are in arrears from October 2022 till date which has compiled SSNIT to take GRCL to court to enforce payments.
The Company is owing GCB millions of cedis while workers tier 2 has also not been sorted since May 2022 till date.
Workers owe deductions to the various credit unions such as GHAPOHA Credit Union.”
Mr Ntarmah appealed to the relevant authorities to come to the aid of the company to avoid its collapse.
Adding that, they disagree with the notion that the company should generate its revenue to keep up with operations.
” Another issue of great concern to us is the determination of the fate of GRCL retrenched staff of 2006 which needs to be addressed by the government.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, it is the expectation of the workers that since the company is a state-owned one, we would have thought that some government support from the state would have been extended to the company as it was the practice in the past but all that we hear is the company is a limited liability company and therefore should be able to work and generate enough to find itself.”
This assertion we disagree with. The truth of the matter is that with the challenges enumerated earlier, it is impossible for the company to generate enough funds to sustain itself to operate as a growing concern.
“It will interest you to note that frantic efforts have been made by the leadership of the union to have engagement with the president of the republic to have interactions on the current situation facing GRCL but all have proven futile.
