GPHA boiling over contract awarded to Meridian Port Service

Aggrieved workers of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority are still protesting against the implementation of the Tema Ports Expansion project awarded to Meridian Port Service.

The staff of the two major seaports are already signalling a possible strike by going RED with the hope that the government will intervene by reviewing the $1.5bn project to save thousands of jobs likely to be lost.

The project when completed will make Tema Port the largest in West Africa, and one of the best in Africa, with a capacity of 3.5 million 20-foot equivalent unit per annum.

But due to the semi-automated nature of the new terminal, some manual jobs and offices are expected to be collapsed.

This among other things is causing panic among GPHA staff. General Secretary of the Maritime Dock Workers Union, Daniel Owusu Koranteng describes the delay in responding to their demand as very worrying.

Chairman of the Senior Staff Union of GPHA, John Richmond Aseeph, who also spoke in an interview noted that the future of workers of GPHA is uncertain because of the move to implement the agreement this year.

“What we seek to achieve is alert Management and everyone who have seen this MPS concession that this a bad, fraudulent, bogus and has to be reviewed and all we seek is to have the contract reviewed with immediate effect,” he says.

“It is only when the contract is reviewed that we the workers of the company will be happy and understand that our future is guaranteed but as it stands now, nothing has been done about it so, we seriously want the contract to be reviewed and that’s what we seek to do by wearing red to mean that we are mourning.”

With current the monopolistic rights of MPS, GPHA and other operators in the Tema Port such as terminal operators, Inland Container Depots (ICDs), Stevedoring companies and shore handling companies are to lose huge revenues that may lead to the collapse of many container-related businesses.

Deputy Transport Minister, Titus Glover, has appealed to the workers that it will do everything possible to deal with their concerns.