Give ECG MD a fair hearing - Workers urge

As news makes the rounds that the staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana want their Managing Director to be removed from post on the grounds of his incompetence, some staff have broken ranks, asking that he be given a fair hearing.

Speaking to GhanaWeb on condition of anonymity, the leader of the sect explained that there is no doubt that the current MD, Kwame Agyeman-Budu, did not reach the helm of the company’s hierarchy from being an in-house person, but that is not enough to throw him under the bus.

The group maintains, “As a company, we have been used to the usual public sector hierarchical way of doing things and immediately we got somebody with a different leadership style, which is very hands-on, and which is alien, this started creating some friction because his style is not what we are used to.”

They continued that, “We expect Mr Agyeman-Budu to undertake more engagements with the union to create more camaraderie to improve mutual trust with the union so that he is well understood & given the full support by us, the workers.”

They explained that they are fully aware of the passion, energy and the total commitment of the MD to his work and expect that in the matter at source, he should be given a fair hearing.

Also, they said that seeing that he came into the company at a time when the coronavirus hit, it becomes unfair for him to be brandished so, making it appear as though he has done nothing at all in his tenure.

“We are aware that immediately he took over the leadership of the company we were hit by the Covid Pandemic & the various ongoing projects and strategic plan to improve the fortunes of the company came to a halt.

“With relation to most of the issues, Mr Agyeman Budu should be given the opportunity to explain some of the direct accusations by the Union. I hope the Board Chairman will do the needful to resolve their differences.

“He is competent and we think he should be given a chance if he has not done anything incriminating,” they concluded.

Background

The staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have demanded the dismissal of their Managing Director, Mr. Kwame Agyeman-Budu.

At a joint National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Friday, 9 April 2021, the junior and senior staff unions noted that Mr. Agyeman-Budu has failed at steering the affairs of the company in the almost two years that he has been in office.

“The Managing Director has been in office for close to two years and has shown lack of vision for the Company”.

“This has been evidenced by misplaced priorities, which have led to the unavailability of critical materials such as meters, service cables conductors, prepaid vending accessories, maintenance materials, which have caused delays in connecting and supplying customers who have paid for such services while the limited resources have been applied on frivolous and capital projects at a time when the company is cash-strapped and unable to meet its financial obligations to stakeholders”, the staff said.

For example, they cited the “construction of a staff canteen at Asokwa District, Roman Ridge and the construction of new District office at Cape Coast where there are enough unused office spaces,” to make their point.

The statement continued: “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”.

Also, the staff claim “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 substations where the recommendations of the evaluation committee was sidestepped and awarded to other companies,” the statement added.