We were not bribed to suspend Oct 10 anti-galamsey strike – Organised Labour

Organised Labour has strongly denied allegations that its leadership was financially influenced by the government following the suspension of a planned nationwide strike scheduled for October 10, 2024.

The strike was initially intended to pressure the government to address the illegal mining (galamsey) crisis, which has caused significant environmental damage across the country.
However, some Ghanaians have accused Organised Labour of accepting bribes to cancel the strike.

In response, King Ali Awudu, president of the Coalition of Concern Teachers (CCT) and a prominent member of Organised Labour, refuted these claims.

He labelled the accusations as baseless and insisted that their decision was made in good faith and without any financial inducement.

Mr Awudu explained that Organised Labour’s efforts had already yielded significant progress, particularly in compelling the government to take concrete actions against illegal mining.

He pointed to the government’s commitment to revoke the Legislative Instrument (LI) that allows mining in forest reserves as a major success resulting from their advocacy.

He further emphasised that the decision to suspend the strike was based on the positive outcomes from negotiations with the government.

According to Awudu, the leadership felt the need to give the government a chance to act on its promises, rather than continuing with the strike.

Ultimately, Awudu stressed that Organised Labour remains focused on holding the government accountable, ensuring that the agreed steps are followed through and that their actions are driven by the desire to protect Ghana’s environment, not by any financial gain.

“Whenever somebody is of a certain opinion, and another has a dissenting opinion the easy thing some people in this country would do is to accuse you of going to A or B. But mind you, so many organisations in this country have threatened to do certain things about galamsey but the government never mind them, including the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.”

“Since December 2023, they have issued notices to the government to revoke the LI that allows mining in forest reserves, but the government has never minded them.”

“Organised Labour comes in and in less than a month, the government has issued the directives for the LI to be revoked. This is what we want. It is being achieved. Why do we go on strike?” he quizzed.