Banker To Banker Operators Plead With Gov't

The operators of District Weekly Lotto popularly referred to as 'Banker to Banker', have called on the government to come to an agreement with them to resolve the impasse that is currently existing between them.

The operators have also petitioned the Inspector General of Police, CHRAJ, the Ministry of Interior and other "responsible organizations" to stop the "atrocities" being meted out to their members by the police and the Receivers Union of Department of National Lotteries (DNL).

Mr. Ransford Boama Boakye, Chairman of Lotto Agents Writers Union (LAWU), said at a press conference in Accra last week that the operation of the group has served as a source of employment to about 2.8 million people over the years. He appealed to the government to see their operation as a source of income for some citizens and not take decisions that would jeopardize their work.

The District Lotto Operators have been using the drawn numbers of DNL to operate their private operations. However the Receivers Union has not taken it kindly complaining that LAWU operations are illegal and therefore should be stopped from operating with the DNL machine numbers. This has resulted in a number of confrontations between the police and Receivers Union on one hand and LAWU and National Association of Lotto Writers (NALWERS), on the other hand. Mr. Ransford Boama Boakye said there are a lot of lotto writers in the remotest parts of the country who are not able to come to the city to receive their lotto books. He said their operation helps these writers to get copies of the books to stake to earn their living.

He said the group some time back wrote a proposal to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to negotiate for them to pay tax to the government but this has not materialized.

A statement presented during the press conference by the National Coordinator of LAWU, Emmanuel Fiakeye, which was jointly signed by Ransford Boama Boakye and Raymond Dotse, Vice Chairman of NALWERS said the group is operating on a memorandum of understanding signed between them and the erstwhile government under the PNDCL 223. He said when the NPP came into power it decided to repeal the law. Mr. Fiakeye said "during the 2003 budget presentation to parliament Hon. Yaw Osafo Marfo, confirmed that PNDCL 233 has been forwarded to the house for repeal."

He said despite the law not being repealed, the receivers unions continue organizing the police to "beat [them], confiscate mobile phones, radios, calculators, wrist watches and cash". He said all the members in the different parts of the country are suffering the same "brutalities", with the recent being that of Kumasi a couple of weeks ago