PSC Tema Shipyard workers call for removal of CEO
The presence of the Minister of Transport at the Tema Port yesterday prompted workers of the PSC Tema Shipyard to demonstrate calling for the removal of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Mr Ali Tunde.
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The workers, mostly from the technical department of the company, were seen wearing red shirts and armbands. Placards, some of which read: “Three years without pay increase,” “CEO and Board Chairman Must Go,” welcomed the minister, Mr Fiifi Kwetey, amid chants of “Tunde Must Go”.
Mr Kwetey was forced by the demonstration to partially suspend the planned familiarisation tour of the Tema Port, and subsequently went into one and a half hour meeting with the management of the company and the leadership of the workers union.
The presence of the Board Chairman of the company, Real Admiral Muniru Tahiru (retd), at the yard infuriated the workers, who called on the minister to ask him to go out.
Dismissals
The Local Union Chairman, Mr Sam Attram, who led the workers on the demonstration, also called for the reinstatement of two of their colleagues whose appointments were terminated for allegedly writing a letter to the President on some of the challenges of the company.
They were also said to have alleged, in the said letter, that not only did Mr Tunde absent himself from work regularly, but also connived with the Head of Finance of the company to purchase a Toyota Land Cruiser V8 vehicle at the cost of $106,000.
They appealed to the minister to call the management to order and ensure that the two officers, Mr Samuel Ayensu and Mr Stephen Tetteh Quaye, were immediately reinstated for peace to prevail.
He also enumerated the countless query letters that were often issued to members of the union on virtually weekly basis for alleged misconducts.
Allegations
According to the workers, not only had the performance of the company taken a nosedive over the last three years since the CEO and the Board Chairman assumed leadership, but a $2million reserved fund left in the company’s coffers by the former CEO, Mr Seth Kugblenu, could not be accounted for.
They also alleged that the Board Chairman, Mr Tahiru, who was a retired naval admiral, had employed the use of service men from the Eastern Naval Command to intimidate the workers into submission.
“We have been labelled as thieves by the CEO and the Board Chairman, so now we are being made to work under guns,” Mr Attram alleged.
They claimed the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) was presently investigating the CEO and three other senior managers for an astronomical increase in their salaries at the time the company had tumbled to its knees.
Mr Tunde, who had previously resigned his post at shipping line, Maersk Line and Scanship, over what had been described as the lack of managerial expertise also awarded a sub-sea survey contract to the McHall Engineering Limited to the tune of GH¢165,642 at a time the PSC Shipyard could not make statutory payments.
The workers further claimed that a 2015 estimated budget of GH¢150,000 for the installation of close circuit cameras (CCTVs) in the entire yard had been used in “shady corrupt procurement” deals with some GH¢140,000 being spend on only six of the cameras.
“We appeal to you to use your good office to investigate these acts of corruption,” Mr Attram echoed.
Minister
Mr Kwetey assured the workers that the government would engage both management and the workers union to solve the problems.
“I have listened to your concerns and those of management, and I want to assure you that we will look into the concerns you have raised as a way of ensuring peace within the company,” Mr Kwetey told the workers.
Writer’s email: [email protected]