Workers of the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), together with members of the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU-Ghana), on Monday staged a demonstration in Tema to protest what they described as attempts to privatise the state-owned aluminium smelter.
Dressed in red, the demonstrators assembled at the VALCO Club House in Tema Community Four at about 6:00 a.m. before embarking on the protest. Carrying placards and chanting slogans, they voiced their opposition to any move to sell shares in the company.
Some of the placards read: “VALCO is not for sale,” “Mr. President, Protect VALCO, Say No to Shady VALCO Deals,””It’s our responsibility as Ghanaians to protect state assets,” and “ICU-GH and VALCO workers are poised to resist any attempt to sell VALCO.” Others questioned the role of the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) and a company identified as ARCH Holdings Limited.
Addressing the protesters, the General Secretary of ICU-Ghana, Morgan Ayawine, expressed concern over what the union alleged were plans by GIADEC to introduce strategic equity investors into VALCO.
According to him, such a move would amount to the privatisation of a strategic national asset, a development the union and workers say they will strongly resist.
Mr. Ayawine urged the government to preserve VALCO as a wholly state-owned enterprise, arguing that the company plays a critical role in Ghana’s industrialisation agenda and should remain under public ownership.
The demonstrators later presented a petition to the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Ebi Bright, for onward submission to President John Dramani Mahama. The petition called on the President to intervene and halt any process that could lead to the sale or privatisation of the company.
As of Monday, neither GIADEC nor the government had publicly responded to the allegations made by the workers regarding the future ownership of VALCO.
Ghana|Atinkaonline.com|Philip Azu