GBC staff call for removal of Board of Directors
Agitated staff of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) have described the board of directors of GBC as the most incompetent and corrupt in the annals of the corporation’s history and have as such demanded their dismissal.
Advertisement
With red bands tied to their heads and wrists, the staff protested on the company’s compound against the board for actions that they claimed had affected the fortunes of the state broadcaster.
Under the circumstances, the staff are asking the National Media Commission (NMC), as a matter of urgency, to dissolve the board to save the company from further decline.
Addressing a charged news conference at GBC in Accra last Wednesday, the Divisional Chairman of the GBC union, Mr Michael Allotey, called for an immediate audit of the company’s accounts and a thorough and close inspection of its Internally Generated Funds (IGF).
He demanded that the board publicly declare GBC’s share of proceeds from the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Run down
Mr Allotey said the board had run down the company to the extent that the newsrooms, which were the nerve centre of activities, were now an apology.
He said some offices and studios lacked telephones, furniture and basic equipment.
The divisional chairman said things had deteriorated so much so that newsmen stood on their feet to carry out their duties, while other journalists went on assignments at their own expense because there were no vehicles available to convey them to their job schedules.
He pointed out that the company’s news broadcast studio had broken down for a very long time now and that currently, “all dedicated studios in GBC are old and are using obsolete equipment”.
“It is a surprise, therefore, that in the face of all these difficulties, the board could afford to rent out production studios to a private broadcasting entity that is in competition with the GBC,” the union chairman said.
End of ‘marriage’
Prodded on by repeated chants of, “this marriage of convenience with the board is over” from the staff, Mr Allotey said it was the feeling of the staff that the board was only out to milk the state broadcaster dry”.
He noted that GBC was generating enough revenue and had the capacity to generate more and as such questioned what the board was using the company’s internally generated funds for.
“How can the GBC that was financially bleeding afford to pay for the fat sitting allowances of its board members,” he quizzed.
He said scores of retirees always came to demand for their gratuity and went away disappointed because allegedly, the management, under the current board, had borrowed from the workers’ provident fund, while the company had in turn failed to pay up its counterpart contribution to the fund.
Charged atmosphere
To the company’s main gate was tied a red piece of cloth with the inscription, “No Director of TV license, Board Chairman Don’t collapse GBC, Board Chairman Go”.
Everywhere one looks, one finds red cloths tied to trees on the GBC compound.
In a petition to the NMC, the GBC union said it had lost confidence particularly in the Board Chairman, Mr Richard Kwame Asante, and a board member, Professor Linus Abraham.
According to the petition, the staff contended that at a staff durbar held in February, Prof. Abraham described GBC employee allowances as bloated. It said this statement, which was in bad taste, led to the staff picketing the broadcasting house.
The petition further found it strange that Prof. Abraham, a board member, could state that the GBC would collapse and that for a person like that, the staff could no longer work with.
The divisional chairman of the GBC was flanked at the news conference by Mr Emmanuel Essel, the First Vice Divisional Chairman; Ms Aneala Andrews, the Second Vice Divisional Chairman; Mr Ampofo Kwarteng, Union Secretary, and Ms Christiana Akoto, Assistant Union Secretary.
Three months ago, there was a similar charged atmosphere on the premises of the state broadcaster when employees with red bands on their arms expressed discontent over the performance of the board of directors of the company.
Writer’s email: [email protected]
