The Ghana Lotto Operators Association (GLOA) and the Concerned Agents Association of Ghana (CLAA) have expressed their displeasure with some National Lottery Authority (NLA) decisions.
The associations revealed that they began negotiations with the National Lottery Authority (NLA) in 2020, led by Mr. Ameyaw, to register for a lottery license.
Each member, they claimed, was asked to pay one million cedis (GHc 1,000,000) and was required to purchase POS terminal machines, software, servers, drawing machines, and other items at the request of the NLA.
According to them, the proposed NLA changes were capital in nature and cost them a lot of money. We were given a ten-year agreement to help us recoup our investment, but when the current NLA, MD Mr. Samuel Awuku, took office, he pretended that no such agreement existed.
Mr. Awuku invited us to renew our licence this year for a fee of two million cedis (GHc2,000,000), promising to announce the operators who had fully paid and then calling us to sign an agreement.
“However, NLA only provided us with a page for our signature and did not provide us with the entire agreement document. Some GLOA members signed the document under duress, with NLA promising to address any issues that arose from the agreement later.
Other GLOA members have refused to sign and have written to the NLA requesting details of the new agreement but to no avail. As we speak, some GLOA members have paid their license fee but have yet to receive it. ”
They also alleged that the NLA has failed to regularize lotto operations to reduce unlawful practices and ensure that those of us who have paid for our license can operate at our optimum level and in turn contribute our quota to NLA and Ghana’s economy.
We the private lotto operators made a suggestion to NLA to tax the writers by charging one hundred and twenty cedis (GHe 120) per lotto kiosk, and all writers who pay will have a sticker embossed on their kiosk. There are over 2 million writers in the private lotto sector.
Can you imagine the revenue that NLA will generate through our writers? In the last five years, several petitions and letters have been written to NLA to enforce this suggestion but to no avail.”
They explained that they were not opposed to digitization, but that the approach being used will result in job losses because the contract has been awarded to a single company.
We, private lotto operators, are not opposed to digitization of lottery operations as it’s a growing trend. But to outsource 5/90 lottery to ONE company Keed Limited (KGL) will result in millions of Ghanaians losing their jobs.
Private lotto operators have a total of over two million writers who stand to lose their jobs. The LA also has over six thousand writers and thousands of employees who will be affected as well. Let’s not forget the thousands of associated parties such as drivers, checkpoint workers, printing company workers, carpenters, etc. who will be out of jobs. It is interesting to know that NLA will overlook the potential job loss and its impact on the economy, just to satisfy the selfish interest of a selected few.”
Portions of the statement read;
”The question remains “Who are the real owners of the KGL” “what has been their contribution to the lotto industry and the Ghanaian economy”?
This is more of a personal interest by some government officials to the detriment of hardworking Ghanaians and the economy at large.
There is also the unjust treatment of the 15 registered private lotto companies by NLA. These
companies paid millions of cedis for the past two years with the promise by NLA to regulate lotto operations. Most of these companies have been operating for over twenty years and have made their contribution not only to the Ghanaian lotto industry but to the economy as well.
Why now grant autonomous power to a new company that is barely two years old? NLA asked private lotto companies to invest in POS terminals, software for integration by NLA etc. These infrastructures needed to make our operations digital cost us millions of cedis only for NLA to now outsource solely to one company.”
This government promise to provide jobs, but all they are doing is taking jobs from millions of Ghanaians to satisfy the selfish interest of a small group of people.
We are so surprised at the director of NLA’s response to the activity of KGL digital operations and trying to overemphasize their contribution without recourse to the massive support from private lotto operators.
It’s high time NLA management defines their role as a regulator rather than fraternizing with KGL digital operators. The NLA should be transparent with Ghanaians about which powers are behind KGL’s operations, can it be that the NLA has relinquished its powers to KGL? The public must be made aware if that’s the issue at hand since NLA belongs to the people of Ghana.”
Read the full statement below
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
