Spare parts theft rocks MMT

There is unrest at the Tamale Depot of the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) following alleged pilfering of spare parts and siphoning of fuel by some senior staff.

Malik Ibrahim, the manager at the Tamale Depot, who told BUSINESS GUIDE that he was not aware of the development has been queried over the mismanagement. Two fact-finding teams have visited the depot to ascertain the veracity of the allegations.

The first team was led by the Operations Director of MMT. According to deep throat sources at the depot, fuel meant for buses of the company at the Tamale Depot were diverted in June and August, this year triggering the work of the audit teams on 15th October and 2nd December respectfully.

The matter was said to have been leaked to management in view of several reports that spare parts at the company’s workshop had been found on the open market. Sources at the company told BUSINESS GUIDE that the Depot Manager and his allies allegedly used the fuel supply as the main conduit to enrich themselves to the detriment of MMT.

The sources disclosed that artificial shortage was created at the yard by the culprits in order for the buses to be fuelled outside. They appealed to management to critically take a look at the issue.

When reached for his comments, Mr. Malik confirmed the operations of the two audit teams but claimed they came to resolve some administrative issues with Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), the main supplier of fuel.

He also refuted the claim that the company’s fleet of buses had drastically reduced to 23 buses, disclosing there were 43 buses. However, BUSINESS GUIDE’s investigations contradicted the claim of the manager. According to him, no one had made a complaint about the theft of spare parts at the workshop.

Meanwhile, BUSINESS GUIDE gathered that during the visit of the last investigative team, figures on the fleet of buses had to be embellished to depict a conducive environment at the depot.