Former Graphic Md To Receive ¢168,000 ESB?

Trouble is gradually brewing at the state-owned Graphic Communications Group Limited as the outgoing Managing Director; Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal is set to be GHC 168,000 richer as his End of Service Benefit in a span of a little over three years.

The amount which constitutes Mr Awal’s second End of Service Benefit as an employee for the same company is said to be causing unrest in the working staff, who fear that if the said amount is paid, a precedent might be set. Speaking authoritatively on this issue with Xfm 95.1, a privately owned commercial radio in Accra, the Managing Editor of the Ghanaian Lens news paper, Kobby Fiagbe revealed that Mohammed Awal was paid a whopping GHC 113,945.83 (over one billion old cedis) as his End of Service Benefit on October 26th 2007 when he was leaving his post as General Manager, Marketing and Communications. “When his tennure came to an end sometime in early 2007, he applied for and was appointed as Managing Director of the Company. But while he was serving as the Managing Director, the Board approved over one billion Ghana Cedis to be paid to him as End of Service Benefit for the period that he was the General Manager, Marketing and Communication, even though he was still an employee of the company”, adds Kobby Fiagbe.

He says some few months afterward, the Board then claimed to have negotiated another mouth-watering End of Service Benefit package; a new year review for Mr Awal based on his salary at the time, which was about GHC 14,000. This new salary was that at the end of his tenure as Managing Director of the company, Mr Awal would be paid four months of his net salary for each year of completed service.

“So at the end of his tenure, he will be taking four months of salaries for the number of years that he has served. And since he has served for about three and a half years, GHC 14,000 multiplied by his number of years, we will arrive at the GHC 1.68 billion; in addition to the one billion plus that he took earlier on.” Inasmuch as workers of the company have expressed their disgust and displeasure at what they describe as a clear case of “monkey dey work, baboon dey chop”, the Board of Directors for the company are said to be adamant in their determination to pay Mr Awal the full GHC 168,000.

This Kobby Fiagbe describes as mind-boggling. He says if it is allowed to go through, it is going to create precedence where people will expect to negotiate based on promotions. “That ones you are promoted, then you must have your End of Service Benefit calculated based on the period that you are being approved and the new year’s review to be negotiated based on your new salary.”

He says “it can’t go on like that; we will have chaos in this country”. Even though the Board is determined to pay the amount, it remains to be seen if a higher authority will halt the payment. Stay tuned for more.

Xfm 95.1/ Accra/ Ghana