‘Our 60-year-old MD must go’ – ECG workers

Workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) say they do not want a contract extension for their Managing Director, Kwame Agyeman-Budu who has reportedly attained the mandatory retirement age of 60.

The workers led by their divisional leadership under the Trade Union Congress (TUC) are calling for the immediate exit of the MD.

According to the workers, the MD has “refused to stay away and continue to parade himself as MD and signing official documents.”

They added that, “the MD reached the 60 years mandatory retirement on February 21, 2021. The earlier petition sent through the board chair informing the board that, staff will not work with the MD due to non-performance and retirement is yet to receive any response”.

In April 2021, the workers initiated similar agitations asking for the removal of their Managing Director, Mr Kwame Agyeman-Budu.

According to the workers, mainly from the junior and senior staff association, Mr Agyeman-Budu was “mismanaging” ECG, hence they want his immediate removal.

In a press statement announcing their resolution, the workers accused the MD of breaching procurement processes.

Below is a copy of the press statement by the workers:

RESOLUTION OF JUNIOR AND SENIOR STAFF UNIONS FOLLOWING THEIR NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (NEC) MEETING ON FRIDAY, 9TH APRIL 2021 AT THE ECG TRAINING SCHOOL

A joint National Executive Committee (NEC) after its meeting on Friday, 9^th April 2021 at the ECG Training Centre, Tema resolved as follows:

1. The Managing Director has been in office for close to two (2) years and has shown lack of vision for the Company. This has been evidenced by misplaced priorities which has led to the unavailability of critical materials such as meters, service cables conductors, prepaid vending accessories, maintenance materials, which has caused delays in connecting and supplying customers who have paid for such services. Whiles the limited resources have been applied on frivolous and capital projects at a time when the company is cash strapped and unable to meet its financial obligations to stakeholders. Example, construction of a staff canteen at Asokwa District, Roman Ridge and construction of new District office at Cape Coast where there are enough unused office spaces.

2. Realising that the managing director is promoting the outsourcing of the collection of revenue from SLT customers, to third parties at a commission of 7% discounted rate and 3% consulting fee, a service that is currently being executed effectively by staff and other institutions for free. The SLT revenue accounts for approximately 40% of the company’s collection.

3. There has been a number of procurement process breaches under the clear supervision of the Managing Director. A clear example is the award of contracts of some Six (6) substations where the recommendations of the evaluation committee was sidestepped and awarded to other companies.

4. The Managing Director lacks appreciation of the duties and roles of his office. He is grossly deficient when it comes to matters relating to administrative and corporate governance. The Managing Director will bypass the structures to give instructions and most of the time threaten artisans, managers without due regard to their supervisors. A clear example was a when a meter reader was transferred from Swedru to Kpeve and Seven others from Hohoe to various places without recourse to the procedures as enshrined in the CA and the hierarchy.

5. The Union decries the alarming rate at which the Company’s technical and commercial losses are galloping. A conservative estimate puts the current system loss figure at over 34% as at February 2021, and there are no concrete strategies in place to bring them down in the short and medium-term. A figure which was between 23% and 24% as at the time of his assumption of office. There are numerous projects aimed at loss reductions and system reliability which are at various stages of implementation. The Managing Director continues to award new non-critical contracts without regard to the company’s poor finances and ability to complete critical projects.

6. The recent disenchantment among some ECG contractors bears testimony to the fact that it is the Managing Director alone who determines which contractor or supplier ought to be paid. This is an exhibition of poor financial management practice. Several pleas by the Union for him to desist from such practice has fallen on deaf ears.

Added to this is the non-payment of legitimate deductions made from staff salaries, which has become severe during his tenure. Altogether, the backlog of outstanding staff deductions to the Provident Fund, PUWU Mutual Funds, Credit Unions, Life Insurance Schemes etc. is estimated at over Seventy Million Ghana Cedis (Gh¢70,000,000.00) as at March 2021.

7. The Union has over the period closely observed his poor working relationship with top management leading to “one man show”. The MD basically takes no advice from his technical deputies perpetuating a culture of silence amongst top Management members.

8. The union recognizing the Company’s challenging financial situation, since June 2020 has petitioned the Managing Director severally to involve its rank and file in revenue mobilization. This noble gesture on the part of the Union which aims at improving the company’s Cash flow surprisingly had been turned down by the Managing Director at every opportunity until 1^st April 2021. It is worthy to note that this delay may have a dire financial consequence on the Company as debt accumulated may become be difficult to recover or be lost entirely.

Considering the aforementioned, the joint NEC recognizes that the continuous stay in office of the Managing Director in the person of Mr. Kwame Agyeman- Budu is gradually leading to the collapse of the Company. Accordingly, the joint NEC resolves the immediate removal of the Managing Director from office. Please take note that if by the close of work on Friday, April 23^rd, 2021, there is no appropriate action, we shall advise ourselves.