A former worker of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Laud Nsiah Laryea, claims nine out of 10 mentally deranged persons at Ashiaman in the Greater Accra Region are former workers of the port.

According to Mr Laryea, most of  the over 5,600 workers who were retrenched in a voluntary redundant exercise in 2002 are struggling with life causing some of them to die as a result while some have gone mad.

“I can say that this issue has affected our people so much that over 600 of us are dead through Tema and Takoradi and it’s so serious that if you go to Ashaiman and do serious study on this case you will see that nine out of 10 mentally deranged people are former workers of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority,” he told 3News.

Mr Laryea claimed the workers who were affected in the redundancy exercise were shortchanged in the settlement package given them, noting that efforts to get monies owed them in the past 14 years have failed.

He said notwithstanding court judgements in their favour, authorities have failed to pay them their outstanding benefits, hence urged President John Mahama to intervene on their behalf.

“We have been at home for fourteen years now struggling and doing all kinds of things to get things done right because after the payments of our benefits in the exercise, we detected that we had been short changed.

“So many of them (the affected former workers) have broken down and they are seriously not themselves right now and it’s not only in Tema but if you go to Takoradi you will find the same thing over there,” he claimed.

Nana Afrane Asante|3news.com|Ghana