AVRL, GWCL cross swords

…GH¢ 35 Million unaccounted for

The cordial relations that have characterized the three year old contractual agreement between the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and their operators Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL) appears extinct as the common grounds between the two institutions are beginning to drift apart.

Management of GWCL has refuted claims by the water operators that a total amount of GH¢ 35.3 Million (Thirty-five million three hundred thousand Ghana Cedis ) had been donated/paid to GWCL by the operators over the three year period they have been in the helm of affairs at the water delivery section of the institution.

This claim made by General Manager in Charge of Communication as reported by one Caroline Boateng in the Thursday February 19, 2009 edition of the Daily Graphic had it that the Operators had made profits to the tune of GH¢ 1.9 million, GH¢ 13.4 million and GH¢20 million in the 2005, 2007 and 2008 financial years. He said this represented a 121% increase in the operational surplus over the past two years.

According to the Daily Graphic report, “Mr. Sakyi Addo emphasized that the profit were given back to GWCL to invest in capital investments in the water sector, such as the water treatment plants and laying of pipes”. However Managing Director of GWCL, Kwaku Botwe told the Financial Intelligence that his outfit had never received any such money from AVRL. He said if any such payments were to be made, there was the need for a certification process to be undertaken.

He said the only money GWCL received from AVRL is the regular cash-flow which the budget allocated for regular maintenance and repair works, “and that is not even taken from their profit but part of the regular cash-flow”.

This position was supported by Jerry Addo, General Secretary of Utilities Services Workers Union of the Trade Union Congress (USWU of TUC) at a consultative meeting on Thursday where the petition of the seconded workers of AVRL was adopted as the working document for negotiations between GWCL management and the workers leadership.

Mr. Addo emphasized that if any such profit must be declared as Mr. Sakyi Addo claimed the State Enterprises Commission (SEC) should have been made aware for the certification to be done before the profits were declared.

This position was also confirmed by the immediate former Executive Director of the State Enterprise Commission (SEC) Frank Ocran who also denied any knowledge of any such profit during his tenure in office. “If such a thing were done we should be aware”, Mr Ocran stated.

His successor Mr. Klinogo also noted that that kind of information should be in the Statement of Accounts of GWCL.

Mr. Kwaku Botwe insisted that GWCL has not taken any such sums of money from AVRL. “If any such profit would be declared, the certification should have been done. This is why we have not made any public comments on that statement”. However, Mr. Sakyi Addo insisted when this paper contacted him that the money was given to their counterparts monthly and recently quarterly.

Meanwhile, at the consultative meeting held with GWCL/AVRL workers’ delegates’ General Secretary of the USWU of TUC’ Jerry Addo stated categorically in the presence of the MD that the appointment of Mr. Sakyi Addo by AVRL contravened provisions of the contractual agreement between government of Ghana and AVRL. According to the contract the operators cannot make any temporary employee a permanent worker without due recourse to the grantor (GWCL). “But in this case AVRL failed to consult GWCL and this one I am aware of it because I can state with authority that your management is unhappy about it and have confronted AVRL about it.

He also agreed with the workers on their point that AVRL seems to be throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians as they stated on a Season Greeting Cards they circulated to workers last Christmas that AVRL is a Non-profit making organization yet they claim to have made a profit totaling GH¢ 35.3 million. Upon this the workers want their bonuses yet the water Operators have not been forth-coming, and the Managing Director Mr. Botwe who also sat through the meeting thanked the workers for the civility they displayed during the meeting, appreciating the depth of information and argument the workers displayed. The MD assured them that their petition would be adopted as the working document of the negotiation committee which is scheduled to meet today Monday May 11, 2009.