Include workers in reforms of state institutions – TUC chairman tells managers

The Chairman of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Bernard Owusu, has urged managers of public institutions to keep workers’ interests at the centre of any reforms meant to improve performance and keep their organisations running.

He said reforms in struggling state-owned institutions especially should be carried out openly and in consultation with workers, since restructuring can put their livelihoods and future at risk.

“Protecting a public institution does not mean overlooking inefficiency. It means demanding accountability, better performance, while preserving the institution’s strategic value to the country,” he said.

He told workers they also have a part to play in keeping their institutions alive, by speaking out against decisions that could harm them and working with management to improve performance.

He warned them not to let partisan politics divide the workplace, saying governments come and go, but employees are the ones who bear the cost when an institution fails.

Mr Owusu was the keynote speaker at a joint meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Professional and Managerial Staff Union (PMSU) and the Local Union of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) PLC in Accra last Saturday. Union leaders, bank management and other stakeholders met to discuss the ADB’s sustainability, job protection and national development mandate.

He urged the ADB to build on its financial recovery through better credit management, accountability and careful reforms. He described its return to profit as encouraging, with profit after tax reaching GH¢367.3 million in 2025 after a GH¢828.8 million loss in 2023. He was concerned, however, about the bank’s high Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) and said more work was needed to sustain the improvement.

He also asked the ADB to do more to close the financing gap in agriculture, which received only 4.7 per cent of its total credit in 2024.

The Chairman of the ADB PMSU, James Obeng-Gyan, called for stronger corporate governance, adequate capital and the preservation of the bank’s strategic assets to secure its future.

He raised concern over reports that the Bank of Ghana’s remaining shareholding in the ADB could be sold, and over signs of government interest in the bank.

Mr Obeng-Gyan said he was not opposed to transactions that could strengthen the ADB, but any such decision must be transparent and protect the national interest.

He proposed a full recovery programme covering loan recovery, risk management, digital transformation, operational efficiency and responsible management of staff.

The ADB Local Union Chairman, Francis-Xavier Kongkuah, asked management to address outstanding staff concerns about job security, career progression and long acting appointments.

He said delays in resolving earlier performance appraisal and promotion issues were hurting morale and staff confidence in their prospects.

Mr Kongkuah also called for transparency and fairness in the ongoing Staff Talent Optimisation exercise, and urged management to set a time-bound framework for confirming employees who have been in acting positions for long periods.

The Managing Director of the ADB PLC, Edward Ato Sarpong, said the bank’s difficulties over the years came from structural weaknesses, not from the banking industry or the Ghanaian market.

He said the ADB lost about GH¢1.3 billion between 2008 and 2024, while the government put about GH¢3.3 billion into the bank over six years. Management had therefore adopted a strategy to restore profitability, sustain the gains and position the bank for growth, he said.

Mr Sarpong added that the staff optimisation exercise is meant to get the right mix of skills across departments and make the bank run more effectively.