General Registrar Closure: Government Loses 500,000 GHC Daily

Business news for Saturday, October 10, 2020

Source: GNA

10/10/2020

Ms Jemima Mamaa Oware, the Registrar General, says the government is losing between 300,000 to 500,000 GHS daily as revenue as a result of the temporary shutdown of the department’s systems.

This is due to an industrial strike by workers at its main service provider, GCNet, which has had a private partnership agreement with the Government since 2011.

GCnet is the developer and administrator of an electronic system known as E-Registrar for the General Registry Department (RGD) that provides them with all the electronic records that are made in their offices.

He said that when RGD learned that he could not access their systems, he contacted management and workers at GCNet and it turned out that workers had withdrawn their services in solidarity with the laid off staff whose severance package had not been paid.

This, he said, had had an impact on his work as GCNet managed its electronic systems and other services such as Industrial Property Law, marriages and estates had also been affected.

“It is a sad day for RGD and all our offices since we are not working and we have not been able to make payments for any of our services because our services are linked to this electronic system. We have not obtained income since last week on Friday, ”he added.

The Registrar General expressed concern that the closure would have a negative impact on the business community and the general population, as many transactions could not be made.

“We cannot process transactions and we were registering up to 200 companies per day, but now, as of Friday last week, we have absolutely nothing to do,” he said.

He called on the Government and the Ministry of Finance to intervene and find solutions to this challenge.

He apologized to the general public for any inconvenience caused and said that management was working 24 hours a day to resolve the challenge.

Clients will be informed when their services resume, he said.

Meanwhile, the GCNet Staff Welfare Association had communicated to the Administration its decision to resume the suspended strike with immediate effect in accordance with Article 159 of the Labor Law, withdrawing all support services, including services provided by some employees laid off.