Workers of the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), together with members of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU-Ghana), on Monday staged a protest on what they described as attempts to privatise the state-owned aluminium smelter.
Clad in red attire, the workers converged at the VALCO Club House at Tema Community 4 in the Greater Accra Region at 6:00 a.m., carrying placards and chanting slogans to register their opposition to any move to sell shares in the company.
Some of the placards read: "GIADEC and its CEO Reindolf Twumasi Ankrah is a big scandal to this government," "Mr President, Protect VALCO, Say no to shady VALCO deals," "Mr President, your people are not telling you the truth about VALCO," "It's our responsibility as Ghanaians to protect state assets," "VALCO is not for sale," "ICU-GH and VALCO workers are poised to resist any attempt to sell VALCO," and "Who is behind ARCH Holdings Limited?"
The protesters expressed concern over what they claimed were efforts by the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) to introduce strategic equity investors into VALCO, insisting that such a move amounted to privatisation of a critical national asset.
The workers, led by the General Secretary of the ICU Ghana, Morgan Ayawini presented a petition to the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Ebi Bright for onward presentation to the President.
