A poll conducted by Educandghana.net shows that 52% of teachers who are members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) believe that the decision if the leadership of the association to set up a bank is not necessary at the moment whereas 48% of members believe is a laudable idea from the association.
Out of 661 GNAT members who voted, 346 teachers representing 52% don’t support the idea while 315 teachers representing 48% lauded the decision.
VIEWS OF THE MAJORITY (52%)-GNAT SETTING UP A BANK According to the members in this category, there are more pressing issues the association will have to look at before this decision and that If teachers bank will not be treating teachers differently, then its establishment is not necessary.
“If they are to set-up a bank and their charges and interest rates are the same as the existing banks then I will say is waste of the teachers money and opportunity for others to amass wealth”, a staunch GNAT member wrote.
In addition, members are of the view that since all banks in Ghana operate under Bank of Ghana (BoG), the bank will not be limited to teachers only and it will be subjected to BoG regulations.
“Teachers bank will not be different from other commercial banks. Once a bank, it will be regulated by the BoG with the same prime rate, minimum capital or reserves, etc. And it will be open to everybody on the streets as a customer. It can therefore not treat teachers differently. Don’t forget that rural banks don’t give shareholders any special rate. Teachers bank will be worse than the Mutual fund“, another member added.
Moreover, other members believe that the leadership of the association want an avenue to amass wealth for themselves as interest rates on loans for its members will be huge.
“If they are to set-up a bank and their charges and interest rates are the same as the existing banks then I will say is waste of the teachers money and opportunity for others to amass wealth. If workers at BANK A can get a loan at 2% sometimes 0% why can’t the teachers bank have separate rates for it’s members”, a GNAT member indicated.
Meanwhile, other GNAT members believe that the leaders of the union is only good at wasting resources or using resource inappropriately.
“All that Gnat knows is wasting teachers money. This is just waste. We will all see their interest rates. Think of the interest rate on their loans now and just check. They should leave teachers alone and reduce their dues so that we can use them as investment”
VIEWS OF THE MINORITY (48%)-GNAT SETTING UP A BANK
The 48% of members who voted in favor of the decision believed teachers will be shareholders and therefore be treated as different.
“Here the teacher who is a customer is at the same time a shareholder. Am talking about teachers’ bank, not any other bank”
“Workers cannot be treated same as customers. Teachers will be customers and/or owners of GNAT bank”.
