Calls for Afenyo Markin’s dismissal born out of misconceptions – Clifford Braimah

Acting Managing Director of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Dr. Clifford A. Braimah has described calls for the dismissal and removal of their Board Chair and 3rd Deputy Managing Director of the Company as a clear case of ‘misunderstanding’ and misconception.

Members of the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) of the Ghana Water Company Limited in the Ashanti Region tied banners at entrances of the company in Kumasi, calling for the immediate dismissal of their Board Chairman, Afenyo Markin and the 3rd Deputy Managing Director of the Company.

Dr. Braimah however, commenting on the issue said members were expressing anger because they have formed misconceptions about the Board Chair and the MD which were untrue and needed clearance. Meeting with the appropriate bodies to seek clarification he explained, would have prevented the issue from aggravating to the levels it has.

“There are issues they raised, if we had engaged with them in good time, probably it wouldn’t have gotten to that level because some of them, it’s just a matter of response. They were talking about the Board Chairman removing the workers on the board which is not the case, there was an anomaly and then the board itself said let’s correct it”. They didn’t understand it and thought it was the board chairman, the person has since been back to the board. They said the Board Chairman is signing cheques. I as the MD, I know the Board Chair hasn’t signed any cheque at all, it was the authority levels that were saying that anytime the MD is not there, the deputy should not be able to sign the cheque above this level without recourse to the board”, he explained.

According to him, swift measures have been taken following the protests to ensure that the issue is resolved and calm returns to the company.

He indicated, “We had a meeting with the union on Wednesday, brought in the TUC Secretary General, Chairman of the States Enterprise Commission, Hon. Asamoah Boateng…It is something that if we had engaged them, some of these things wouldn’t have happened.

“Monday we are meeting on our own as a board, Tuesday, the Union is coming back for us to meet and look at the roadmap as to what we need to do to resolve some of these issues”.