Former Employee Of Defunct GN Bank Stages One-Man Demo Over Hardships

A former defunct Groupe Nduom (GN) Bank employee has staged a one-man demonstration over economic hardship following the bank’s closure.

Philip Sarpiah, who was clad in a GN Bank-branded cloth, took to the streets on Friday noon to appeal to President Nana Akufo-Addo to restore the license of GN Bank.

According to him, the over 6,000 workers who have been left jobless are experiencing immense hardships due to the closure.

“As I am talking to you, my child is in the house. I am not able to pay school fees. That is the reality now. GN Bank was feeding me, paying my monthly salary and other incentives, but now I am home,” he lamented.

Asked why he decided to embark on a one-man demonstration, Mr Sarpiah said his former colleagues could not even afford the transportation to Circle because of the hardships.

“I am not the only one in this situation. We have a platform, but most of them don’t even have money to come to protest. Some people don’t even know what to do. Just Kasoa here; one person said he doesn’t have money to come,” he explained.

Aside from the hardships, the former employee said it’s been difficult to gain employment at other financial institutions because of the collapse.

“Even when you go for interviews, and they see GN Bank on your Curriculum Vitae, they ask you questions that suggest that when you’re employed, you’re going to collapse their company,” he spoke to the media.

The lone protestor marched from the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra through the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue (Circle to Accra), to the Farisco Traffic Light at the Graphic Road intersection, through the Kojo Thompson Avenue to the Liberia Road.

He proceeded to the Cedi House, the National Theatre, the Head Office of the Ghana Revenue Authority and finally to the Black Star Square where the petition was received by a Presidential Staffer, Adu Asabere.

He wielded placards that read “Nana we are suffering, our PF is still not paid since 2019,” “6,000 ex-staff of GN Bank are crying for jobs” and “There are no jobs, please give Nduom a chance to bring back GN Bank.”

The police were also present to provide him protection and also ensure free traffic flow.

About eight police personnel, including three females, dressed in riot and crowd control gear, walked briskly behind Sarpiah who kept a fast pace along the route, accompanied by the media.

It will be recalled that in August 2019, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) revoked the licences of 23 insolvent savings and loans companies and finance house companies, including GN Savings and Loans.

A statement from the central bank explained that: “The revocation of the licences of these institutions has become necessary because they are insolvent even after a reasonable period within which the Bank of Ghana has engaged with them in the hope that they would be recapitalized by their shareholders to return them to solvency”.

According to the apex bank, GN’s shareholders failed to restore the bank to the required regulatory capital and liquidity levels despite long-standing promises that new capital was expected from foreign investors.

While GN has indicated that government owes it a total amount of GH¢942.98 million, of which GH¢102.73 million represented Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs), the Bank of Ghana’s assessment is that IPCs totalling GH¢30.33 million only have been confirmed by the Ministry of Finance as at August 6, 2019, as owed to contractors that may be indebted to affiliates of GN.

The Bank of Ghana’s supervisory assessment showed that even when the total outstanding IPCs amount of GH¢30.33 million was considered, it still did not address GN’s capital deficit of GH¢683.66 million.