By Bill W. Cooper
Investigation done by this paper has established that the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Paynesville branch is facing allegation of bad labor practice, including claims that an employee was physically assaulted by security personnel on the orders of a Human Resources officer.
The incident has since raised serious concerns about workplace safety, employee rights, and the ethical practices of one of Africa’s leading financial institutions, with a call for immediate investigation by the Ministry of Labor.
Our investigation uncovered that the aggrieved employee of the Bank, Kolee Alexander Musa, was on January 7, 2025, allegedly flogged on the orders of the Bank’s HR, Arthurline Anderson, over his refusal to leave the premises without a written document of his claimed dismissal.
Explaining his ordeal in an exclusive interview with this paper, Kolee explained that he could not have left the bank’s premises only on verbal notes or instructions of his dismissal but needed a written document to show to his lawyer surrounding his dismissal.
He explained, “I am a full-time employee and been working at the Bank for years but to my outmost surprise, I went to work on Tuesday morning by 7:30 a.m. and was later told by the branch manager, Priscilla Manson to leave the office without any reason(s).
“Immediately, I asked her why, but she said that the HR told her that I should leave the bank and that my service was no longer needed in the entity. So, I asked her to do such request in a written communication for future reference but she refused and immediately called the HR.
While standing in the bank and awaiting her response, madam Priscilla, our branch manager then dropped the line with madam Anderson, the HR who had already instructed her to call the security guys to forcibly take me from the office,” he said.
Musa further disclosed that he was allegedly flogged by the two bank officer’s over his refusal to leave the bank’s facility, as he is currently receiving some medical attention at a local clinic with a scheduled appointment to a bigger Hospital for proper examination and treatment.
“After that flogging, I painfully went to the James Davis Hospital and was advised to do an x-ray on my entire body at a bigger Hospital because the pain is too much, and I don’t know what next might happen to me,” he lamented.
Musa, on tears further termed the action of his employer as ‘bad labor practice’, thus alleging that the situation at the bank is a continuous one, but his colleagues are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs.
He maintained, “Currently, some of my colleagues are repaying for money they did not personally take from the bank or use, but are living with it due to fear of losing their jobs, and this is seriously sad and disheartening.”
“But I think it is the time for us to speak out against these attitudes, especially at banks that should be there for both employees and clients. Come to think about it, if the employees are not satisfied to work at the bank what becomes of the clients or customers,” he wondered.
He added, “Now I am getting information which I do not want to believe, alleging that the bank is going ahead of me at the Ministry of Labor in an attempt to delay and eventually silence my case.”
“But I pray that is not the case because, the Ministry of Labor should be there for all employees and I am sure they will do the needful. In fact, I will do a formal complain to them today about the situation,” Musa added.
Meanwhile, our investigation also gathered that the alleged situation between Musa and the bank was triggered after he and two of his colleagues, Fennie Nyanquor and Patience Hill did a transaction which led to huge losses to the bank in the tune of over US$48,000.
Despite Musa’s admittance to such transaction especially his involvement in authorizing the card, he insists that he did nothing wrong and challenged the bank to show video evidence of those who set, and or changed the pin of the customer who came to him as a female.
Our investigation also established that Musa’s two colleagues who were part of the transaction, Fennie Nyanquor and Patience Hill were asked to resign and they did on grounds that they were unable to repay the huge sum of money that got missing from the bank.
But Musa has since refused and argued that he did nothing wrong and if the bank insists that he should leave their entity, they should serve him a written dismissal letter but he will not resign on verbal note.
When contacted via phone and text messages both online and offline, the bank HR, Arthurline Anderson phone rang endlessly without any answer to our calls or text messages, but we did manage to get the UBA’S Paynesville branch manager, Priscilla Manson who then referred us to contact the HR whom she said would be best to respond to our inquiry.
