Some staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana have accused some senior managers of the power distributor of inciting workers against their managing director.
According to the staff, some top managers who are eyeing the position of the managing director are behind the petition submitted to the presidency demanding the removal of Kwame Agyeman-Budu as managing director.
“Some of our bosses at the top who have been working here for long are behind what’s happening. Some of them feel they have been here for long so they deserve to be MD. And they are using the union against the current MD who is doing well for the company. Some of the people behind this revolt are actually due for retirement but they are hoping to replace the MD,” some senior workers of ECG who do not want to be named claimed in an interview with StarrFM.com.gh Tuesday evening.
The staff also noted the current MD has cut down on financial wastage in the system.
“Some of our managers are used to huge allowances and this man has cancelled all such allowances to save us money”.
However, the Deputy Head of HR and Finance at the ECG Osei Kufuor who was mentioned by the staff as part of the people behind the revolt against the managing director denied knowledge of the incident.
He told StarrFM.com.gh in a telephone conversation on Wednesday ” I have no knowledge of it”.
The workers in their petition cited breaches in procurement services in the awarding of contracts and outsourcing collection of revenue from SLT customers, to third parties at high commissions [even though that can be done by staff for free] as part of the reasons for their demand.
The Junior and Senior Staff union opined said the ECG’s technical and commercial losses are rising with conservative estimate of the current system loss figure at over 34% as at February, 2021.
They added that there are no concrete strategies in place to bring them down in the short and medium-term. A figure which was between 23% and 24% as at the time of his assumption of office.
“Realising that the managing director is promoting the outsourcing of the collection of revenue from SLT customers, to third parties at a commission of 7% discounted rate and 3% consulting fee, a service that is currently being executed effectively by staff and other institutions for free. The SLT revenue accounts for approximately 40% of the company’s collection.
“There has been a number of procurement process breaches under the clear supervision of the Managing Director. A clear example is the award of contracts of some Six (6) substations where the recommendations of the evaluation committee was side stepped and awarded to other companies.
“The Managing Director lacks appreciation of the duties and roles of his office. He is grossly deficient when it comes to matters relating to administrative and corporate governance. The Managing Director will bypass the structures to give instructions and most of the time threaten artisans, managers without due regard to their supervisors. A clear example was a when a meter reader was transferred from Swedru to Kpeve and Seven others from Hohoe to various places without recourse to the procedures as enshrined in the CA and the hierarchy,” the petition said.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
