Members of National Lotto Receivers Union embark on demonstration
Members of the National Lotto Receivers Union (NLRU) on Thursday marched in protest against the reduction in commission payable to them by the National Lottery Authority (NLA).
On March 28, this year, the NLA reduced the commission payable to lotto receivers who constitute the sales force of the NLA and are members of the Union.
The members are aware of a government directive that commission payable to Lotto Marketing Companies should revert to 25 per cent which was previously being paid, but the directive has been ignored.
Mr Kofi Frimpong, General Secretary of National Lotto Receivers Union (NLRU), presenting a petition to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, in Accra, said the current management of NLA deemed it appropriate to continue deducting at source all taxes payable to Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) from the NLRU commission.
“The NLA has unilaterally stopped the age-old practice of deducting NLRU’s membership dues at source,” he added.
Mr Frimpong said several abuses were being meted out to them by the NLA, including the disconnection of electricity to an office they built on a portion of land allocated by the NLA during the Directorship of Colonel Yaachie (Rtd) and depriving them of a place of convenience.
He noted that NLA had no symbolic labour relationship with the NLRU despite having been certified and licensed as a lotto marketing company.
Mr Frimpong said: “The 20 per cent is unacceptable because we do make pre-payment for the allocation of NLA products and as a result we borrow money from financial institutions and from the informal sector to operate our lottery business for which we pay interest rates ranging between 6-10 per cent depending on the source of credit.”
“We also pay 10 per cent commission to our assistants, cost of GPRS service provided by MTN and we construct our own lotto kiosks and pay for the rent of the land where our kiosks are sited and that accounts of four per cent of our earnings,” he added.
Mr Enoch K. Cobbinah, Chief Director of Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, who received the petition on behalf of the Sector Minister, assure the NLRU that the petition would be presented to the Minister.
He commended them for a peaceful demonstration and that the Ministry would endeavour to find lasting solution to their problems.
In an interview with newsmen, Mr Paul Wilson Kwaku Apaloo, Volta Regional Secretary of NLRU, said the 25 per cent commission was not sufficient for their operations and therefore reducing it to 20 per cent would adversely affect their operations.
He appealed to the Government for assistance to restore the 25 per cent commission paid to them.
Source: GNA