How Unruly SIC Boss Defied SIC

…Employed Unqualified Personnel To Man Mampong SIC Office
… Refused To Vacate Official Residence 27 Months After Transfer


It has emerged in a gross show of power-flexing that has made her look
larger-than-SIC Company Limited that, the embattled Kumasi Area Manager of the
leading insurance Company Ms. Lariba Bawa defied established orders of Management,
to employ unqualified personnel to man sensitive positions at the Asante Mampong
branch of the Company.
That apparent snub in the face of the rules governing the engagement of agents and
the employment of staff by the Parent SIC, gave the Kumasi Area boss a false sense
of self-importance for after all she was able to turn down qualified people who
ought to have been appointed in her choice’s stead, with all impunity damn the
consequences.
According to credible sources close to Ms. Lariba Bawa, a memo authored by her and
dated August 5, 2011 was dispatched from her Kumasi end to the headquarters in
Accra, requesting a certain Ms Matilda Avoka to be engaged on contract to man the
Asante Mampong office of SIC.
When the Human Resource office at the headquarters scrutinized the applicant’s SSSCE
and HND certificates as well as her medical report, it turned out that by the score
on her SSSCE certificate the applicant did not possess the requisite qualification
to occupy the said office.
It emerged from Ms. Avoka’s SSSCE certificate that she failed in all the subjects
she wrote, even though the basic entry requirement is five SSSCE/GCE O’ Level with
credit in English and Mathematics. Checks conducted by THE GHANAIAN SUN indicates
that SIC normally give concession to applicants who possess at least three credits
in three subjects to be engaged on contract basis.
It sounded and appeared so clear that by the Company’s established academic
requirements which Ms. Lariba Bawa cannot claim to be ignorant of, the applicant’s
(Ms. Avoka) academic credentials did not qualify her to be engaged as an officer,
let alone be placed for contract purposes by the SIC.
Given the fact of the matter and obvious variance at play, the SIC directed Ms. Bawa
to identity and appoint a qualified person for the post in order not to bring the
name of the Company (SIC) into disrepute. However, notwithstanding the directives,
Ms. Bawa vowed not to take instructions from the management and as at press time
yesterday, Avoka was still at post as the contract clerk for Asante Mampong drawing
a handsome salary from the office chest.
As if this was not enough, Ms. Lariba Bawa has gone ahead to engage another person
by name Ms. Bushira Osman whom she has attached to her secretariat since August
2011, just around the time she engaged Avoka at the Mampong office drawing a salary
of GH¢120 per month. Veritable sources say this too was without approval from the
head office in Accra.
Yet another damnable record of hers is that in June 2001 she was transferred to the
head office in Accra from Tema. However Bawa refused to vacate her Tema official
bungalow meant for the incoming Manager.
On September 19, 2001 she was written to and given two weeks to handover the
bungalow to the Tema Manager but she refused to comply. In a letter dated 23rd
October 2002, Ms. Bawa was again asked to vacate the Tema official residence, over a
year of over-staying.
She however indicated in a letter dated 27th November 2002 that she was prepared to
vacate the residence on condition that management could find her an alternative. But
in a sharp retort, management responded by reminding Ms. Bawa that it has never been
the policy of the Company to look for accommodation for staff who do not have duty
post accommodation.
Incensed and in all sorts of moods, management reminded she-who-is-to-be-obeyed that
the Company has been generous to her by granting her a credit facility by acquiring
one of SIC’s residential property situated at Accra’s suburban Taifa.
Our checks showed that repayment of the Taifa facility was supposed to have been
effected by December 2001 but Bawa failed to comply with management’s order. She
only moved out of the residential bungalow after he tied management’s hands to offer
her financial assistance by way of loan in addition to rent allowance of 20% of
basic minimum given her.
By 15th January 2002 which the deadline should have been met, she still refused to
obey legitimate instructions, after management had advanced the loan and allowance
to her for the purpose of renting.
A final reminder to Ms. Bawa on 22nd January 2003, instructed her to vacate the
residence by 31st January 2003. However, she refused until 22nd July 2003 when she
eventually vacated the premises, after 27 months of resistance to lawful authority.
Coming up yet again sometime next week is how an officer of SIC turned herself into
a consultant and extorted money from a cocoa purchasing company which culminated in
the Company’s management withdrawing its major businesses from SIC.