The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers-Ghana (COPEC) has asked President Nana Akufo-Addo not to hesitate to sack the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company, Frances Essiam, if she’s found guilty of any wrongdoing.
They contend that the CEO has to be fired alongside the board which the President asked to be dissolved earlier this week.
In a statement to the media, the Chamber also tasked the government to make available the report that indicted the board to the general public.
In an interview with Citi News, Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, said the matter will be brought to a conclusion when the Committee report is made public.
“We want the report to be published, if there are findings in the report that implicates the CEO she must not be shielded, she should not be protected, she must also be made to go home and suffer the same fate as the others, for whatever infraction that has occurred at the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company, ” he said.
CEO, Board in tussle
There was unrest at the company over the CEO’s disregard for some directives issued by the company’s Board.
The Board had queried Madam Essiam over claims that she had mismanaged GCMC, and also awarded some contracts without the approval of the Board or the Energy Ministry, with the discord eventually leading to their vote for her suspension.
But just when Madam Essiam defied the suspension which was approved by six of the nine board members and insisted she was still at post, the Executive Secretary of the State Entreprises Commission Stephen Asamoah Boateng, also confirmed that Madam Essiam remained at post.
Subsequently, a three-member independent committee was subsequently was set up by the Energy Ministry in collaboration with the State Enterprises Commission [SEC], to probe the allegations and the disagreement with the Board.
However, Adam Mutawakilu described the setting up of the Committee as another attempt to cover up the ‘rot’ at the company, which he says has been the case in a number of other scandals under the current government
“It is the considered view of the Ministry that due to the nature of the impasse and the fact that the Board is an interested party in the matter, an independent committee will produce a more objective result. Consequently, the Ministry, in Consultation with the SEC, has set up a three-member committee made up of a Senior Lawyer and Governance Expert, a Chartered Accountant and banker, and a petroleum expert at the ministry to investigate the matter” a statement from the Energy Ministry
source, citinewsroom
