The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) has urged government to take immediate action to re-capitalize the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times newspapers to prevent their potential collapse.
The ICU highlighted that over 600 employees of these state-owned media organizations are owed salary arrears, while retirees are unable to access their second tier and provident funds.
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The government of Ghana owes the state-owned Daily Graphic newspaper over GHC2 billion, with the company’s overdue receivables exceeding GHC20 million.
This staggering debt has crippled the operations of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), rendering it nearly non-functional.
The financial crisis has had a ripple effect on staff welfare, with over 300 employees, the company has struggled to pay salaries, which are now in arrears.
Retired workers have also been affected, as many are unable to access their provident fund and second-tier pension benefits. Successive governments have made promises to support the media house, but these have largely remained unfulfilled, leaving the company on the verge of collapse.
The situation is the same with Ghanaian Times, another state-owned media organization. It is also experiencing severe financial challenges.
Speaking at the Greater Accra Regional Conference of the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU), the General Secretary, Mr. Morgan Ayawine, made a passionate appeal to the government to intervene urgently.
“These are state-owned organizations that government knows very well that they play a pivotal role. How do we educate the public on government policies when we allow these two organizations to collapse?” He asked.
In a related development, the Union also expressed concern over the closure of the Produce Buying Company (PBC), which has ceased operations due to a government debt exceeding GHC2 billion.
The ICU has called for immediate re-capitalization to revive the once-thriving cocoa purchasing firm.
“People who are placed at the top echelon of power have set up companies which are also competing with state-owned organizations. Whether it is a deliberate plan to run PBC aground, one cannot say,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the General Secretary urged the government to inject funds into other state-owned agencies such as Neoplan Ghana an indigenous bus manufacturing company and Aluworks a manufacturing company to help restore its viability and secure jobs.
