Customers of Blackshield Company Limited will today, Thursday, 22 October 2020, petition the National Chief Imam, Dr Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, the Ga Traditional Council and the Christian Council to intervene to compel the government to pay their locked-up funds.

The customers of the company formerly Gold Coast Fund Management numbering about 200 said they have decided to use this approach than picket to avoid any form of harassment from the Police.

Public Relations Officer of the group Charles Nyame speaking to Class Business said: “The plan is to go to the National Chief Imam’s place to present our petition, after that we will move to the Ga Traditional Council to present a petition, after that, we will move to the Christian Council and present our petition.

“We are petitioning them to put in words for Gold Coast Fund Management to propel the government to pay us our money as soon as possible because lives are at stake.

“Right now, it is obvious that the security apparatus has been poisoned against us so it is very difficult for us to do any activity which is in the form of protest. So today, we are not going to walk on the streets, we are not going to sing any songs, we are just boarding a bus to move to these various places to do our petitioning…We don’t want any confrontation with the Police”.

Explaining the choice of petitioning these men, Mr Nyame said: “We believe that these clergymen and traditional authorities carry a strong voice that when they put in words, it will soften the hands of the government to do something.”

Meanwhile, the government has promised a bailout package for customers whose funds were locked up in fund management firms that were collapsed in the financial sector clean-up exercise.

But the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) says customers of Blackshield and three other firms will not be part of the package because BlackShield, for example, is challenging the revocation of their licences in court.