Dr. Clifford Braimah
There appears to be sinister plot designed to undermine the authority of the newly appointed managing Director of the Ghana Water Company who is less than a month old in office according to the Daily Searchlight newspaper.
This paper’s investigations have revealed that some hawks within the company who were eying the company’s topmost position have vowed to make things difficult for the new MD because they consider him as an ‘outsider’ who did not rise through the system.
Blaming the minister, Mr. Kofi Adda for the appointment, a statement widely circulated in the media and attributed to some so called concerned workers of Ghana Water Company Limited said “Kofi Adda's appointment of Dr. Clifford Braimah as MD of GWCL is a tribal satisfaction rather than national one.
However, a move by these aggrieved senior staff who are mainly chief managers to incite worker against the newly appointed MD have been shot down by a large section of the workers who have seen through the diabolic agenda of their superiors.
The chief managers are trying to solidify the junior staff by attacking the legitimacy of the MD. They are going further: delegitimizing the government itself.
Some of the company’s top officials have long been renowned for systemic corruption. This unfavorable reputation has naturally been a source of concern to donors, including the World Bank that accused management of embarking on white elephant projects.
Economically, the perception of corruption has deterred foreign investment. Some workers frustrated by corruption and unscrupulous official practices, have been clamoring for change and a removal of these senior staff from office to save the company and its image.
Prior to Dr. Braimah’s appointment, there were media publications suggesting that workers will not accept the President’s choice of MD if the person does not come the fold of GWCL. A senior staff told this paper that “these appointments are the exclusive preserve of the president, and as long as the man qualifies for the job, the needless tribal controversy must be put to rest.
He said the near collapse of Ghana water infrastructure under the supervision of these chief managers and the alarming rate of mismanagement is “what we warned government against and we are happy government listened to us and snubbed these people”
They noted that the primary goal of most of these chief managers who were seeking to assume the position he said was self-enrichment.
He said these persons who have been responsible for running the affairs of GUWL/GWCL, have been so inept that they are only interested in lining their pockets, at the expense of good leadership and sound operational decisions. “Indeed such was their greed that they ended up buying expired chemicals, and machines with the wrong specifications which are cleverly stashed away at their Tema round about stores”.
Clearly one could see that, they wanted to assume the highest office to continue to access and siphon funds, but without any meaningful vision of bringing progress to the transformation agenda of the company.
“I was personally troubled when I learn that, some of the principal architects of the poor decision making and wrong procurements which has rendered GWCL a lame duck body, were lining up to be considered for the position of Managing Directors by the New NPP administration”. A leading member of the union said.
Welcoming the President’s choice, the union executive said all the three persons who were seen as the main protagonist are persons whose past are so fraught with corruption that, it would have been wrong to allow any of them to be appointed managing Director.
Speaking with some journalist yesterday he said the angry officials were militating against the MD’s moves to turn around the company’s economy.
He said there was a deliberate attempt by those angry with the MD’s against corruption, to set the masses against this administration and make his administration unpopular.
