The Ghana Mine Workers’ Union of Trade Union Congress Ghana has appealed to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to fully refund and recover the funds of its members from the liquidated assets of its own regulated entities.
He said over 19,000 miners had their deposits drawn from their provident funds, welfare funds, leave savings, and individual funds, including severance packages, locked up in Bank of Ghana-regulated institutions affected by its financial sector clean-up in 2018/2019.
Mr Abdul-Moomin Gbana, the General Secretary of the Union, said this at this year’s National Executive Council Meeting in Accra.
“As a Union, we are totally appalled and deeply disappointed in the Bank of Ghana as a regulator of these distressed financial institutions and its fiduciary duty to the citizens of this country to ensure effective supervision and regulatory compliance.
“We make this call against the backdrop of the numerous assurances from both the former and current governors of the BoG and the IMF Reports of May 2023 and December 2024, but without any success,” he said.
He said, amidst other geopolitical developments, the gold price had trended upwards from a pandemic price of over $1800 year-on-year, reaching an unprecedented high of $4000 in the course of the year.
He commended Heath Goldfields for the efforts made to settle legacy payments of its members.
“Let me seize this opportunity to once again commend Heath Goldfields for the positive strides they are making to reposition the Bogoso-Prestea Mine on the path of growth and sustainability,” he said.
Mr Gbana pledged the Union’s fullest support and commitment to working cooperatively and collaboratively with the management of Heath Goldfields Limited, not only to settle the remaining indebtedness but also to ensure the long-term sustainability of the mine.
He called on the chiefs and people of the communities of Bogoso and Prestea to support the turnaround efforts of the Bogoso-Prestea Mines under the management of Heath Goldfields Limited.
He said the transformational changes taking place in Ghana’s mining labour market had resulted in a marked shift like employment away from standard to non-standard forms of employment.
“As at the end of 2024, over 90 per cent of the workforce in the mining sector is currently engaged in non-standard forms of employment, with standard employment sitting just at about 10 per cent,” he said.
He urged the government to take an interest in ensuring that the contracts the local entities enter into with the large-scale multinational companies were not exploitative, cut-throat and suffocating.
