Guess Who Is Sneaking Out Of Town

After Awarding Fat Ex-Gratia to Themselves

Oil Giant, Shell International is sneaking out of town, after over 70 years of doing business in Ghana, under circumstances that has left its Ghanaian workers in a quandary regarding their future.

Meanwhile, the two expatriate management team of the company, all from neighboring Ivory Coast, has made gorgeous allocations for their ex-gratia, raising eyebrows of staff and local shareholders.

Shell, whose management kept the decision of the parent company to pack out of Ghana from its staff, finally owned up after the international media had exposed their surreptitious moves to sell off their stakes.

After earlier denials by management of the secret intentions of Shell to sell, it finally confessed to the leadership of the Senior Staff Association (SSA), when the French Media blew their cover, naming Libyan Oil as a likely successor. The staff wore red shirts, in protest against the uncertainty surrounding their future with the company.

The SSA, in a meeting with management of the company last month, expressed strong reservations about the diabolic moves to sell the assets of a company they had toiled to build, without consideration for their interests and whether they would like to work with the successor company or not.

The SSA proposed that members of staff are given the option to decide whether to continue working with the successor company or be adequately compensated through a severance package in recognition of their contribution to adding value to bring Shell to its present level.

The Managing Director of Shell (Ghana) Limited, Mr. Omar Benson, who is also Sales and Operations Manager for Ghana and Togo, promised to convey the concerns of the local staff to the parent company, Shell International.

Meanwhile, as local staff is left in a state of uncertainty, Mr. Benson, together with the Vice President of Shell (West Africa), Honore Dainhi, both Ivorians based in Ghana, have already set aside a total of $630,589.37 as their End of Service Benefits (ESB) pension, to be charged against Shell (Ghana) accounts.

The Vice President for the Sub-Region, who took up his appointment in Ghana in June 2006, is taking home $508,748.00 whilst Mr. Benson is to smile all the way to the bank to cash $121,841.37.

The provision, which is made against the period ending June 2009, means that Mr. Benson’s pension is being charged against Ghana’s account even though he assumed duty in Ghana a month earlier, in May, 2009.

Mr. Benson, who was working with Shell in his home country, applied to be transferred to Ghana in 2005, following on the heels of his wife, a staff of L’Air Liquide in Ivory Coast, who was transferred to Ghana.

He was later appointed to replace the Ghanaian Managing Director, Mr. Daniel Nunoo, who was left hanging with lesser role dubbed "Country Chairman" and had to proceed on an early retirement out of frustration.

Since Mr. Dainhi’s responsibility was for the whole of West Africa, his pension ought to be charged to the various Shell accounts in the countries under his jurisdiction, and not only against Shell (Ghana) accounts.

If the pensions of these people are charged against Shell (Ghana) accounts, what it means is that Shell (Ghana) would be understating its profit earnings, and subsequently, the corporate tax it has to pay to the nation. Ironically, the pension payable to Ghanaian staff working in other countries, have been charged against Shell (Ghana) account.

Again, since Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), a largely state-owned bank as well as some Ghanaian individuals and organizations are minority shareholders of Shell (Ghana), they would in turn be denied the true dividends they would be entitled as shareholders.

The international oil company’s activities in Ghana have been limited to trading activities and it has neither invested in a refinery nor any key installation. Meanwhile, Shell is eyeing the fledgdling upstream (exploration) sector following the oil find.

Meanwhile, The Enquirer’s several calls to the cell phones of the two top guns, Mr. Dainhi and Mr. Benson, went unanswered, even after leaving voice messages.

SNEAKY TRACK RECORD

The track record of Shell, as far as its withdrawal from the continent is concerned, has been anything, but smooth.

In Cameroun, staff had to kidnap the management of the company, including the then expatriate Regional Vice President, George Brunton in 2006, to get a proper hearing of their concerns and for the payment of adequate compensation.

In Gabon, it took the intervention of President Omar Bongo to get the local staff adequately compensated. The French Country Chairman (Managing Director) of Shell (Gabon), who was deported from Gabon, took refuge in Ghana, where he stayed fora short term until Shell found him a job in an Asian country and posted him there. Shell workers in Senegal have been on regular on-and-off strike actions, pushing for adequate compensation.