Payment of GNPC ex-gratia lacks equity – Kweku Baako

Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has accused the Board of Directors of the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) of not being equitable in the payment of severance package to its ex-senior officers.

The Board of Directors of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in a press statement announced that it had approved the payment of ex-gratia to four former employees of the Corporation, comprising of two former Chief Executives and two Managers.

The four and the positions at which they exited GNPC are: Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata (Chief Executive); Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye (Ag. Chief Executive); Mr. Benjamin Dagadu (Field Evaluation and Development Manager); and Ms. Esther Cobbah (Public Affairs Manager).

“The four served the Corporation for periods ranging between 12 and 21 years. They were all removed from office in 2001, under circumstances that did not allow for the payment of their respective accumulated separation entitlements.”

The statement added that “the Board of Directors of the Corporation, after in-depth review of the situation, concluded that the payment of the end-of-service benefits to these management personnel, who had made invaluable contributions to the development of the Corporation, is a valid obligation. The Board took the position that meeting this obligation, however belatedly, is the right thing to do.”

It added that “the Corporation computed the amounts to be paid to each of the affected senior managers on the same basis as what has been used with respect to all staff who are made redundant or separated from the organization.”

But speaking on Joy FM’s News analysis show News File Saturday, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako stated that his investigations have established that senior executives of the of GNPC who worked during the Kufour administration were denied the same package as has been given the Mr Tsatsu Tsikata et al.

“My checks indicate that senior officers who worked very hard during President Kufour’s tenure have no such benefits. Interestingly these are the people under whose watch we had the oil find.”

Abdul Malik Kweku Baako disagreed with the payment of monies to Tsatsu Tsikata and his colleagues described that decision as unjustifiable.