The Association of Lotto Marketing Companies (ALMCs) and the Staff Union of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) have waded into the impasse between the Authority and the Private Lotto Operators by proposing workable solutions.
In a joint statement signed by Eric Tamakloe and Nana Yaw Quansah, Chairman and Secretary of the Union of the Ghana Federation of Labour respectively as well as Kofi Frimpong and Dan Mensah, General Secretary and National Chairman of the ALMCs, said the current state of affairs of the NLA reforms are imminent.
They agreed that it is important that is done because there is a huge potential available to the Authority to work and generate huge sums of revenue to support government’s development agenda.
The ALMCs stated the Authority was struggling to generate income to pay winning prizes, lotto commission, staff salaries and emoluments.
It said due to the massive encroachments on the NLA market to feed on its flagship product, ‘the 5/90’ game, where huge sums of money could be generated from its operations, the ALMCs offered their total support to the measures being put in place by the current management of the NLA to undertake some reforms in a bid to streamline some aspects of its operations.
The statement urged the management of the NLA to take steps to harmonize the operations of the private companies with the NLA, and also urged the private companies not to be recalcitrant and adopt confrontational stance but should bear in mind that Section 4 of the Lotto Act, 2006 (Act 722) gives the Authority the sole mandate to operate and regulate lottery in Ghana, and within the parameters set for them.
It said ALMCs and the NLA Staff Union thus proposed that the Authority should introduce a clear-cut regulatory framework in accordance with the National Lottery Act, 2006 (Act 722) and Lottery Regulation, 2008 (LI 1848), review the licensing fees by introducing a realistic rate, and in addition to charging licensing fees, revenue sharing should be instituted to ensure fairness and equity.
They also called for regular flow of communication to be adopted to avoid suspicion, rumors, speculations and levied agents and writers of the private lotto companies on a monthly basis to generate more income for the NLA, the statement added.
“In this case, proper records must be kept to ensure accountability and no company will have the right to conduct any draw without NLA’s authorisation,” it said.
It appealed to all the parties to refrain from using politics and the media as battle grounds, which has the tendency to not only inflame passions but also muddy the waters; but engage in dialogue to resolve any contentions that exist.