MMT boss snubs minister

The Managing Director of the Metro Mass Transit (MMT), Maxwell Awuku, has called the bluff of the Minister for Transport, Dzifa Attivor, over a directive to hand over his duties to a new person, setting the stage for a possible show down.

Transport Minister Attivor recently wrote a letter to the MMT boss, asking him to step down after some alleged misappropriation of huge funds in the company. He asked him to proceed on leave and hand over to Noble Appiah, the outgoing Chief Executive of National Road Safety Commission (NRSC).

The MMT MD and his deputy have been asked to report at the Ministry for reassignment after his leave.

However, at a news conference, Mr. Awuku called the minister’s bluff, replying that she had no mandate to give such a directive.

According to the MMT boss, it was the company’s board that appointed him and that it was only the board that had the authority to remove him from office.

“I am still the MD of the MMT and I report to the board of directors. Until the board decides my fate no one can do so,” Mr. Awuku told journalists on Wednesday in an apparent reply to the Transport minister.

The Transport minister has since remained quiet following Mr. Awuku’s open defiance.

When DAILY GUIDE contacted Ms. Attivor for her reaction to the saga, she replied in a text message that she would not discuss MMT issues.

MMT had been notoriously known in the news in recent times over transfer blues and alleged embezzlement of some GH¢2.5 million of the company’s funds by five employees.

But Mr. Awuku flatly denied the allegations, insisting the amount stolen in the company was only GH¢4,800.

According to him, all the individuals involved in the embezzlement of the money had been dismissed and all their entitlements denied them.

He indicated that allegations that some individuals within the company embezzled GH¢2.5 million, was a calculated agenda to injure his reputation and that of his deputy, Martin Afram.

According to him, since he took over as the Managing Director of MMT in 2010, the “sinking” company had been transformed into an international transport award winning company.

Blowing his own horn, Mr. Awuku told journalists, “I have just returned from Madrid in Spain with an award acclaiming the success of the MMT.”