Mpiani blamed for Kufuor's inaction on report

The Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, has been blamed for the apparent delay by President Kufuor to act on a committee report that was submitted to him in Dec. last year on the wrongful dismissal of about 500 ex-workers of the National Oil Palm Limited (NOPL), which is based at Pretea in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region.

Some sources that spoke to The Chronicle said the Chief of Staff might have forgotten to inform the President of receiving the committee's report, hence the apparent silence by the President.

Speaking to reporters in Takoradi, the ex-workers of the company, now known as Norwegian Palm (NORPALM), expressed their surprise at the delay of President Kufuor to take action on the committee's report ,which he instructed the District Chief Executive for Ahanta West, Kwesi Biney to set up to investigate their grievances.

Investigation conducted by The Chronicle revealed that when the PNDC government decided to convert the then state farms into a limited liability company, the workers were prevailed upon to invest in the new company that was going to be set up.

When the workers accepted the proposal, their management, then headed by Squadron Leader Sowu decided to convert the welfare fund of the workers into equity in the new company. By this decision the workers were given 15% shares in the company, which they named National Oil Palm Limited.

The Chronicle gathered that after this accord had been reached with the workers, Squadron Leader Sowu left the company. The new management that took over also had friction with the workers so the latter started agitating for the return of their money, which was 15% equity, shares in the company. The ensuing confusion led to the arbitrary dismissal of the workers after some military personnel had been sent to the company.

After the dismissal of the workers in 1991, the new management still refused to pay back the money to the workers. Whilst the issue was dragging on, the then NDC government again divested the company in the year 2000 to some Norwegians investors, who now renamed the company. In fact the company has now become a wholly privately owned entity.

When the company was being divested for the second time, the government still did not consider paying the workers the amount they had invested in the company.

When President Kufuor visited the Western Region about two years ago, the workers raised the issue at a durbar organized in his honour at Agona Nkwanta, the Ahanta West district capital and appealed to him to intervene for the state to refund their money to them.

At the same function chiefs from the area led by the Ahantahene, Otumfuo Baidoe Bonsu, also complained to the President that the land for the cultivation of the oil palm in question was not paid for by the then CPP government led by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who took it over from them to make state farms.

The chiefs told the President that, though no compensation was paid for the land, the state had also divested the palm and the land into private hands who were now cultivating it to make profit at their expense. The chiefs therefore appealed to the President to look into the issue and recommend appropriate compensation that must be paid to them as landowners.

After receiving these two complaints, the President also instructed the District Chief Executive, Kwesi Biney, to set up a committee to look into the complaints and submit its report to him later in Accra for him to take action.

DCE Biney, subsequently, set up the committee as recommended by the President, who after going through the cases, submitted their report to him including recommendations they had made. Biney later sent the whole report to the Regional Minister in Sekondi.

The Chronicle gathered from an unimpeachable source that after receiving the report, the Regional Minister, Hon. Boahen Aidoo and his Regional Security Council deliberated on it before they finally submitted it to the Office of the Chief of Staff in December last year.

Investigations revealed that almost a year after the submission of the report to the chief of staff neither the Chief of Staff nor the President had made any comment on the report, which the ex-workers, who now find themselves in abject poverty ,have been waiting for.

When The Chronicle contacted Biney on phone last Thursday afternoon, he confirmed that the President instructed him to set up the committee to look into the issue. According to him, the committee had already submitted their findings to him, which he had also sent to the Regional Minister for onward submission to the President.

He refused to make further comment saying he was waiting for the action the President would take on the report.