PUWU dismisses allegation against members

Accra, May 18, GNA - The Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has described as "malicious and baseless without any empirical evidence" allegations being peddled against some of its members in the utility services that they were deliberately curtailing power and water supplies to sabotage the ruling government.

The Union held that such "sweeping" allegations were to secure political favour or mislead government to take action against innocent workers. It therefore called on the government to treat the allegation with contempt.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra, Alhaji Bawa Salifu, Deputy General Secretary of PUWU, said both the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Ghana Water Company Limited were not political entities but purely professional public utility service providers.

He said disruptions in supply by either ECG or the GWCL should be seen purely as technical problems beyond the control of the services. " Most of it is due to obsolete machines which cannot operate consistently and also inadequate working tools for ensuring sustenance of productivity," he added.

Alhaji Salifu also appealed to the present and future governments to make appointments to the two institutions not on political basis but on the basis of professionalism.