The Concerned Lotto Agents Association of Ghana (CLAAG) has said some officials of the National Lotteries Authority (NLA), and members of the security services have vandalized some lotto kiosks with the bat of guns, harassing and arresting some Lotto Agents and Writers in Accra.
Executive Secretary, CLAAG Kwaku Duah Tawiah in a press statement lamented the ill-treatment by the NLA officials after a failed attempt to impose the 20 percent commission on the lotto operators.
Mr. Duah further stated that they are convinced that the NLA had a predetermined plan to frustrate operators and prefers to tread the course of the collision rather than jaw-jaw on the issue of the 20 per cent commission.
“There is a video going around with supposed National Security Operatives breaking even locked Lotto Kiosks by the NLA directives. It is clear that the NPP is no friend of the lotto industry as similar treatment was meted out by the Osei Ameyaw administration and now the Sammy Awuku administration follows same with this insensitivity to the plight of the suffering masses”.
“One wonders whether this is the same government that promised to create and sustain jobs as well as provide social safety nets for the poor and vulnerable” he added.
The executive board of CLAAG has assured the government that the lotto fraternity will not sit down aloof while government functionaries including board members, management, and security of the NLA continue to harass innocent citizens.
They also accused the NLA of allegedly engaging a private entity, EDITEACH COMPANY, to take over the operations of the lottery in Ghana hence doing the bidding of the said company by eliminating CLAAG from the industry.
“The leadership of CLAAG wants to assure lotto Writers and Agents across the length and breadth of the country that CLAAG will explore every legitimate means at its disposal to have this matter resolved hence members should continue to remain calm and law-abiding as leadership activates the various processes,” Mr. Duah said.
It will recall that members of lotto associations in the country have kicked against the directives from the National Lottery Authority (NLA) and its governing board regarding the 20 per cent commission offered to lotto writers in the country.
The members of the Ghana Lotto Operators Association (GLOA), Private Lotto Operators (PLO) Concerned Lotto Agents Association of Ghana (CLAAG), and the Lotto Writers have asked the NLA to increase the commission to 40 percent considering the recent hike in fuel prices, the depreciation of the cedi, and the high inflation rate amongst others.
The associations had later written to the NLA seeking an audience to discuss matters affecting the operations dispassionately but this has proven futile.
