Lotto receivers extend strike

Members of the Ashanti regional branch of the National Lotto Receivers Union (NLRU) have, at a meeting in Kumasi, resolved to continue with a sit-down strike in protest at the decision by the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) to pay commission at 20%, a reduction of 5%.

The NLRU has since the start of the year made several protestations at the decision to pay it members 20% commission but the NLA still went ahead to implement it, which sparked nation-wide agitation by the lotto workers.

Allegations of unfair treatment and improper management of the gaming sector were made against the CEO of the NLA, Mr. Kwadwo Andah and his team who are also accused of sabotaging government.

The NLRU thinks that the NLA has deliberately turned deaf ears to their plight and numerous suggestions aimed at improving the sector, which they consider to be the most viable means of collecting revenue for government.
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The ministry of finance and economic planning had said reducing the commission earned by the receivers would help raise more revenue into the national kitty with the NLA saying the reduction would help clear the cost of importing automated lotto staking machines.

Members of the NLRU have however strongly countered these reasons and rather argue that the sector turns to suffer if the decision is not reversed within the shortest possible time.

According to them, the NLA surcharges them GH¢30.00 every month for supplying the automated machines and currently there are over seven thousand machines being operated in the country.

No time limit has been communicated to them on when the NLA would stop surcharging them and in their opinion, it is about time that the latter gave an account of the several deductions they had made in the past few years when the system was introduced.

What is considered to be bad management at the NLA has caused several lotto receivers to abandon the national lottery operator and have joined ranks with the illegal “banker to banker” who are said to be running an efficient system.

An adviser to the Ashanti regional NLRU, Mr. Dominic K Asamoah, was unrepentant in his call on the president to give the entire management of the NLA the marching orders for non-performance.

He is of the view that the lotteries have the potential to be the nation’s cash cow but mismanagement has currently rendered it a liability.

He said the president’s vision of creating a Better Ghana is being thwarted and that requires immediate action to salvage the situation.

Estimates are that the NLA would fall short of its revenue target by 13% each week if the strike action persists any much longer than it has already.

The lotto receivers described themselves as shareholders in the industry since they invest heavily by buying lotto booklets and credits for the machines.
Their opinion therefore matters most in policy formulation and implementation.

Arguments by the NLA that lotto receivers in Ghana are among the highly paid in the world would not wash with them.

According to them, it is also only in Ghana that receivers pay upfront for lotto booklets and credits for automated machines before they are paid commissions only after they have been able to sell to the public.

They also argued that their operational costs are on the high side and they are always compelled to work under difficult circumstances to meet these costs in order to stay in business.
Further, reducing their commission from 25% to 20% would only make matters worse for them, they contend.

The regional Chairman of the union, Mr. Yaw Antwi, was not pleased with the behaviour of the NLA and vowed to press for better conditions for the lotto receivers.

He was equally not happy with some of his union members who continue to deal with the NLA despite the fact that the strike had not been called off.

He called for a united front among his members to force the powers-that-be to see reason with them and bring them on board in decision-taking and implementation since they turn to suffer when any policy bears unfruitful outcome.

Mr. Antwi also bemoaned the fact that a great number of their ranks have lost confidence in the system and have left to pursue other endeavours outside of the industry whiles others have pitched camp with the illegal operators.

A former Ashanti regional First Trustee of the NLRU, Mr. William Owusu, said the receivers in actuality are only paid 15% since they are made to pay an income tax of 5% on the 20% commission the NLA is paying them.

He said it is unfair to increase the salaries of other category of workers whiles government is rather determined to reduce theirs when they play a key role in revenue mobilization.

This paper has learnt that a planned meeting between the national executives of the NLRU with the ministry of finance and economic planning to iron out their differences on the matter failed to come off Tuesday and no date has been set yet for the two parties to engage each other.