With just two weeks after officially taking over Twitter, Elon Musk is making headlines yet again after reportedly firing its staff in Africa.
According to a report on CNN, employees at Twitter’s only office in Africa; in Accra, Ghana, were unceremoniously fired through emails.
According to CNN journalist Larry Madowo, the employees were locked out of their work emails and their laptops stopped working.
They were then informed of their termination despite none of the employees given any severance deals; a move that is being reviewed by authorities in the West African country.
“The company is reorganizing its operations as a result of a need to reduce costs. It is with regret that we’re writing to inform you that your employment is terminating as a result of this exercise,” read an email sent to a fired Twitter employee.
Madowo informed that the fired staff will continue to receive payments and benefits until December 4, 2022 whereafter they will be let go by the company.
Until then, the staff are not permitted to communicate with other staff, suppliers, or customers.
Twitter chose Ghana to host its physical presence in Africa in 2021 while still under co-founder Jack Dorsey as part of the company’s global expansion plans.
In a statement at the time, Twitter noted that Ghana was chosen for the same because the country is a firm supporter of free speech, online freedom and open internet.
However, for the African branch of the company, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the staff was forced to work remotely, only up until recently.
Interestingly, the termination emails came only four days after Twitter opened its first physical location in Africa.
“On Tuesday, after working remotely for about a year, Twitter’s African staff in Ghana finally opened a physical location
“On Friday morning they were locked out of their Twitter accounts and their work notebooks. They then received email notifications on their personal accounts that they were being terminated,” said Madowo.
