How Unruly SIC Boss Defied SIC

…Employed Unqualified Personnel To Man Mampong SIC Office

… Refused To Vacate Official Residence 27 Months After Transfer

It has emerged in a gross show of power-flexing that has made her look

larger-than-SIC Company Limited that, the embattled Kumasi Area Manager of the

leading insurance Company Ms. Lariba Bawa defied established orders of Management,

to employ unqualified personnel to man sensitive positions at the Asante Mampong

branch of the Company.

That apparent snub in the face of the rules governing the engagement of agents and

the employment of staff by the Parent SIC, gave the Kumasi Area boss a false sense

of self-importance for after all she was able to turn down qualified people who

ought to have been appointed in her choice’s stead, with all impunity damn the

consequences.

According to credible sources close to Ms. Lariba Bawa, a memo authored by her and

dated August 5, 2011 was dispatched from her Kumasi end to the headquarters in

Accra, requesting a certain Ms Matilda Avoka to be engaged on contract to man the

Asante Mampong office of SIC.

When the Human Resource office at the headquarters scrutinized the applicant’s SSSCE

and HND certificates as well as her medical report, it turned out that by the score

on her SSSCE certificate the applicant did not possess the requisite qualification

to occupy the said office.

It emerged from Ms. Avoka’s SSSCE certificate that she failed in all the subjects

she wrote, even though the basic entry requirement is five SSSCE/GCE O’ Level with

credit in English and Mathematics. Checks conducted by THE GHANAIAN SUN indicates

that SIC normally give concession to applicants who possess at least three credits

in three subjects to be engaged on contract basis.

It sounded and appeared so clear that by the Company’s established academic

requirements which Ms. Lariba Bawa cannot claim to be ignorant of, the applicant’s

(Ms. Avoka) academic credentials did not qualify her to be engaged as an officer,

let alone be placed for contract purposes by the SIC.

Given the fact of the matter and obvious variance at play, the SIC directed Ms. Bawa

to identity and appoint a qualified person for the post in order not to bring the

name of the Company (SIC) into disrepute. However, notwithstanding the directives,

Ms. Bawa vowed not to take instructions from the management and as at press time

yesterday, Avoka was still at post as the contract clerk for Asante Mampong drawing

a handsome salary from the office chest.

As if this was not enough, Ms. Lariba Bawa has gone ahead to engage another person

by name Ms. Bushira Osman whom she has attached to her secretariat since August

2011, just around the time she engaged Avoka at the Mampong office drawing a salary

of GH¢120 per month. Veritable sources say this too was without approval from the

head office in Accra.

Yet another damnable record of hers is that in June 2001 she was transferred to the

head office in Accra from Tema. However Bawa refused to vacate her Tema official

bungalow meant for the incoming Manager.

On September 19, 2001 she was written to and given two weeks to handover the

bungalow to the Tema Manager but she refused to comply. In a letter dated 23rd

October 2002, Ms. Bawa was again asked to vacate the Tema official residence, over a

year of over-staying.

She however indicated in a letter dated 27th November 2002 that she was prepared to

vacate the residence on condition that management could find her an alternative. But

in a sharp retort, management responded by reminding Ms. Bawa that it has never been

the policy of the Company to look for accommodation for staff who do not have duty

post accommodation.

Incensed and in all sorts of moods, management reminded she-who-is-to-be-obeyed that

the Company has been generous to her by granting her a credit facility by acquiring

one of SIC’s residential property situated at Accra’s suburban Taifa.

Our checks showed that repayment of the Taifa facility was supposed to have been

effected by December 2001 but Bawa failed to comply with management’s order. She

only moved out of the residential bungalow after he tied management’s hands to offer

her financial assistance by way of loan in addition to rent allowance of 20% of

basic minimum given her.

By 15th January 2002 which the deadline should have been met, she still refused to

obey legitimate instructions, after management had advanced the loan and allowance

to her for the purpose of renting.

A final reminder to Ms. Bawa on 22nd January 2003, instructed her to vacate the

residence by 31st January 2003. However, she refused until 22nd July 2003 when she

eventually vacated the premises, after 27 months of resistance to lawful authority.

Coming up yet again sometime next week is how an officer of SIC turned herself into

a consultant and extorted money from a cocoa purchasing company which culminated in

the Company’s management withdrawing its major businesses from SIC.