Director-General of National Lottery Authority, (NLA) Mr. Kofi Osei Ameyaw, has urged all illegal lotto operators in the country to register with the Authority by December 31, 2017 or have themselves to blame for whatever will happen to them from January 1, 2018.
During a meeting with National Lotto Marketers and Retailers Association and some executives of Banker-to-Banker operators in Kumasi, the new director-general said the registration was an opportunity for the illegal lotto operators, popularly known as Banker- to-Banker operators to identify themselves with the system.
Failure to do this by the end of the grace period, he noted, would result in arrests and prosecution in the lotto courts which were instituted as soon as he assumed office.
According to him, certain measures are being put in place by his administration to import more lotto machines for the marketers and retailers, hence the illegal operators who would register with the Authority, may be considered and given some of the machines which would be coming.
The directive is set to usher in place another very difficult task for the NPP government after their fight against illegal mining which doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.
Hon. Osei Ameyaw is on a nationwide tour to deliberate with Lotto Marketers and Retailers as well as some private lotto operators to see how well their occupation could be fine-tuned to their benefit and to that of government.
He said many things which happened in the erstwhile administration were acts that did not help the government of Ghana because certain individuals were benefiting unduly from their relationship with some persons at the Authority.
The director-general said he had had to put certain things on hold while still studying the system well in order to stop the drainage of monies which could go to the government.
“Because I have stopped their avenues where they made undue monies, they hate me and are saying all sorts of things against me but we have come to help Ghana, and that will we do,” he stated boldly.
He revealed that two system providers who worked with the NLA had GH¢18.6 and GH¢8 million cedis respectively deposited in their accounts while the government of Ghana had only GH¢16 million cedis deposited in the Consolidated Fund.
This, he noted, was a clear issue of cheating the system as even in his just six months in office he has been able to deposit close to that amount in the Consolidated Fund, promising to deposit GH¢35 millions cedis by end of 2017.
Story: From James Appiakroang Jnr., Kumasi, Ashanti Region
