SOS! GRIDCo is Collapsing – Mr. President

I write to draw your attention to a very fluid situation in Ghana Grid Company that if not nibed in the bud has the propensity to derail the smooth delivery of power in this country. GRIDCo is barely five years in operation but the woes of the infant company are incomprehensible and unfathomable.

To start with it should be noted that GRIDCo until the power sector reform used to be the transmission department of V.R.A with one director being ably supported by few area managers.

After the separation and the subsequent formation of GRIDCo, the interim management team crafted an organizational chart with numerous frivolous directorate and managerial positions.

Having created such needless vacancies, some individuals who were not in the then transmission in V.R.A who found themselves virtually redundant “sneaked” into GRIDCo and were offered juicy positions to the amazement of all staffs.

GRIDCo as an infant company was being run like a one man business. Looting, profligate spending, purchase of multiple cars for directors and managers, employment of relatives, girlfriends and cronies, over employment of non-core staffs and a litany of other reckless activities are the order of the day.

Looting

EOCO investigations in Kumasi

The former Northern Networks Services Director Rev. S.F Koffie is at the center of investigation by EOCO for some financial impropriety but strangely, he has been hurriedly transferred to Tema to head a different Department in order to escape justice. It is alleged that he in connivance with some staffs (mostly senior staffs) in the area have dissipated the resources of the department in a manner that violate some of the company procedures and general procurement laws.

It can be recalled that this same Rev. S.F Koffie was involved in a huge Oil scandal in the Aboadze thermal Plant some years ago and then also in order to shield him from justice, he was transferred to Kumasi where he recently committed the aforementioned illegal financial deals. Many others involved in that Oil looting at the Aboadze thermal Plant then have been sacked but the Rev. Koffie escaped with the skin of the teeth.

As already exposed by Mr. Yaw Nsiah a GRIDCo consultant, the company’s purchases of equipment’s and parts have been fraught with fraud, over invoicing and over pricing. An internal investigation into such huge fraudulent deals was conducted and the brains behind it uncovered. The two individuals found to be linked to that huge financial deal were then Director of Finance, Mr. Akesseh and then Director of Engineering and Project, Mr. Norbet Anku. In that deal the company was said to have lost 4million dollars.

To the amazement of all, the only punitive action taken against the two was to reshuffle them to other Directorate positions.

Purchase of Multiple Cars for Directors

You will be shocked to learn that in an infant and sensitive company like GRIDCo where our operation is heavily gravitated towards mentainance of transformers, circuit breakers, Line and other auxiliary equipments in order to have a reliable network, the company is investing huge sums of its income in the purchase of very expensive brand new luxurious vehicles for directors and managers.

It will interest you to know that just few months ago, all the Nissan Patrols allocated to managers which were purchased barely a year or two ago have been replaced with a 2013 brand new Keyless Toyota Land cruiser Prados.

It is important to note that some managers have in addition to this have hijacked the “old” Nissan Patrols in addition to the new Prado.

The case of the Directors is sickening. In a small company like GRIDCo a Director has the following:

1. One 2013 All New (5.6 liter V8 engine 298kW / 560Nm, 7-speed automatic with manual mode 3,500kg braked towing capacity ALL MODE 4x4 with Multi Surface Selection and Rear View Camera) Nissan Patrol.

2. Auto-Start-Stop system, Cruise control Latest edition Ford Mondeo

3. 2013 All new Toyota Camry with Blind Spot Monitor (BSM), with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (RCTA), Power tilt/slide moon roof, Wood-grain-style interior accents, 6.1-in. touch-screen Display Audio, Bluetooth 12 hands-free calling.

In addition to these, some have a Nissan Navara, Nissan Patrol or a Brand New Ford F-150 Pickup.

Over Employment of Non-Core Business Staffs.

I am inclined to believe that, GRIDCo is the only company in this world that has the largest number of its staffs being non-core staffs. These Non-core staffs range from, Secretaries/Administrators( in a lot of occasions relatives or girlfriends), Security men( even though private security companies have been contracted),Accountants, Real estate officials,MIS and many other areas where lean numbers could be maintained. Contrary to this the core business like Manning of control rooms, substations and the major technical sections of the company are under employed leading to work overload on a few. Infact some control room staffs had to work 24 hours in order to compensate for a colleague on leave.

Interesting also is the rate at which National service and Youth employment personnel have been absorbed into the system without any interview or exams. In the midst of all these, others who have performed very creditably during their National service period were left to go home due to the fact that they have no God-fathers in the company. These practices have swollen the ranks of the company to almost 800 from 400 barely five years ago.

Sack Human Resource Director and overhaul of Human resource Department

In accordance with law proposals for staff salary negotiations were submitted by the Union in October 2012 but for over two months, there was no response from the Management of the Company. Instead of offering a counter proposal thereby calling the union to the table for bargaining after seeking mandate from the board, The Human Resource Director privately called the union and senior staff chairmen to JUSTIFY some items in the proposal. This violates the standard procedures of collective bargaining.

This single action hugely exposes the incompetence and knowledge deficit of Mr. Allotey in staff group matters. In order to get the process going on, Mr. Allotey was taught the proper procedure of collective bargaining. Even then instead of doing a diligent job by preparing well thought through counter proposal, he lazily went for a copy of the proposal from V.R.A management which was utterly rejected upon proper scrutiny by the general secretary of the PSWU. Mr. Allotey’s incompetence was badly exposed again and his overly touted human resource management acumen seriously bruised.

Even though he had no mandate from management Mr. Allotey called meetings with the union only to call off such meetings at the last hour either through a phone call or turn union executives away after having travelled from all parts of the country to meet management in Tema.

This rather unprofessional attitude by the Human resource Director delayed staff salary negotiations for over six months.

Staffs of GRIDCo felt unfairly treated since their colleagues in both V.R.A and E.C.G had completed their negotiations. GRIDCo being in the middle of the POWER CHAIN had no excuses for refusing to negotiate new salaries with staffs. When matters came to a head, staffs started to agitate in the various areas and these agitations were seen as a recipe for disaster because it was capable of plunging the entire country into darkness.

In late April, staffs picked up information that the CEO, Mr. Charles Darku was to be awarded as the MOST LISTENING CEO at the 2013 May Day celebrations.

Having confirmed the information, staffs planned to boycott the May Day activities as a sign of protest and also to send a signal to the TUC that the situation in GRIDCo was precarious and that awarding the CEO was to be a stage managed event and also that it run contrary to the situation on the ground in GRIDCo. It was very clear that the staffs were bent on carrying out their threat.

In a bizarre and incomprehensible fashion, the CEO in connivance with the human resource director sent out a letter on 29th April just two days to the day of award promising staffs of their readiness to engage them in the negotiations immediately after the May Day event and were going to pay the new salaries in may ending. The letter therefore urged staffs to rescind their decision to boycott the event but rather turn up in their numbers to support the CEO to receive his award.

Unknown to staffs, this hurriedly and juicily worded letter was meant to cajole staffs.

Few weeks later, the CEO secured a new job and left abandoning the staffs in a state of confusion and hardship. After the May Day celebrations attempts at solving the staffs concerns have not yielded any positive results.

Salary Hikes

After a humiliating 7moths of 2013 salary negotiation, staffs were cajoled with a paltry and trifling hike.

While staffs were given stipend as salary increase in 2011, management with an already huge booty swell their salary with a whopping 75% increment. Interesting this year, they hiked it up again by over 25% even in the midst of the power crisis.

The real danger facing the country now is the resolve by some staffs at the sensitive areas of work to plunge the country into darkness if Mr. Allotey is not sacked with immediate effect.

This action I boldly say is not a mere threat but a concerted effort at driving home our demands for a cleanup of the system.

Appointment of Substantive Chief Executive

Rumours are rife that Mr. William Amuna, the Technical Service Director of V.R.A has been appointed as our new CEO. I just hope and pray it remains a rumor from the grape vine. If it turns out to be true, one thing is assured, the suffering but hardworking staffs of GRIDCo will punish this entire country for such an obvious show of nepotism and cronyism by the president.

What competence did Mr. Amunah overly display in V.R.A to warrant his appointment as the CEO of GRIDCo if not because he is a relative of the President.

Staffs of this company are crying for an external and neutral CEO who will reform, restructure, investigate and punish corrupt Directors and Managers who have plunged the resources of the company. We want one who will put an end to this profligate spending by the management and also be immune from the influence of the old dogs in the company. One who can rescue this sinking company from its predicaments not a young man like Amuna whose seniors will become his subordinates overnight. This development will spell doom for this company and the country at large.

Thank you.

An Agitated Staff