Twitter goes silent on sacked employees in Africa

Nkechi Ogbonna

West Africa Business Journalist, BBC News

Former Twitter employees who were based in Ghana say the company has gone silent on all negotiations with their lawyers following the massive layoffs in November last year.

They also say their severance packages have not been paid.

Agency Seven Seven, which is representing the aggrieved former staff members, says Twitter has not communicated with them or the staff since May when negotiations were almost concluded.

The agency says the social media giant, through its legal team, had almost reached an agreement to pay the fired staff members three months' salaries and repatriation funds for those employed from outside Ghana but it has remained quiet for weeks.

Agency Seven Seven says it is now exploring other ways to proceed. It fears that the lack of a settlement could set a bad precedent for how foreign-based companies treat employees in Ghana.

Twitter opened its only Africa office in Ghana last November and had about a dozen employees but they were then laid off as part of a global staff cull introduced by Elon Musk when he bought the company.

Twitter has not yet responded to the BBC's request for comment.

This article originally appeared on BBC News.