Why VRA Chief Must Return to Office

Last Thursday we published a front-page banner story to the effect that after stringent forensic auditing by the Auditor General, no act of mismanagement or malfeasance has been proved against Volta River Authority (VRA) Chief Executive, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby.

This is against the background that a section of VRA staff have since April sought to impeach Dr. Wereko-Brobby's integrity using various specific allegations, resulting in a petition to President J.A. Kufuor, who in turn ordered the audit in line with the dictates of the 1992 Constitution.

Concerned as we have been about the VRA situation since it started, we are compelled to express our shock at the fact that the various allegations leveled against Dr. Wereko-Brobby were all made up in a bid to muddy his image and get Government to remove him from office.

What took place at VRA exposes the unbridled penchant of some Ghanaian to falsity when truth has been proved over the years to be the basis for the development of any nation.

Those who saw Dr. Wereko-Brobby as a threat to the booty they have been enjoying at VRA obviously moved heaven and earth to get him out of the place under circumstances which cannot even be entertained in even secondary schools.

The Independent's greatest pleasure is that for the several weeks that the stand-off lasted, Government did not play to the gallery and rather waited till the very end when the falsity of the allegations became very clear.

However, the outcome of the Auditor General's findings also present a challenge to Government against the backdrop of earlier threats by a section of VRA staff that they can not work with their Chief Executive.

It is our expectation that Government will not kowtow to any such demands from those among the VRA staff who have been pushing this line, which is clearly indefensible and smacks of tyranny.

The bare fact is that once the allegations of those VRA workers have crumbled and been proved by the Auditor General to be unmeritorious, the right thing is for Dr. Wereko-Brobby to return to post.

The democratic journey we have embarked upon requires of us to uphold the rule of law and ensure that we do not bow to any unjustified pressure when there is no basis for it.

Comments flying around among sections of the good people of Ghana on the VRA matter since it started have all been geared to the fact that if the VRA Chief Executive is cleared, there is no reason why he must not return to his office.

In the opinion of The Independent, any other option would send the wrong signals to all corners of the state that, if we do not like somebody's face all we need to do is fabricate allegations against him or her.

And even if stringent forensic audit exonerates the person we will still have our way because that person will be kept out of job. That is anti-motivational. It drains morale and can even slaughter patriotism.