VRA Staff Bristle With Righteous Indignation

WE WANT THE WHOLE TRUTH ... Chief of Staff's press statement discredited

In a swift reaction to a press statement signed and issued yesterday by Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff at the Presidency, the Workers Union of the VRA have warned that they would not tolerate the presence of the embattled 'step aside' Chief Executive, Dr. Charles Yves Wereko-Brobby.

In a counter press statement last night, the union discredited the Chief of Staff's press statement and demanded that they wanted the whole truth about the findings of the Ministerial Committee.

Mr. Mpiani, in his statement, had said the ministerial committee did not find the allegations against Dr. Wereko-Brobby proved and therefore exonerated the CEO, but fingered him on his 'managerial style.'

For this, Mpiani's statement continued, the government had decided to meet representatives of the workers, management and the CEO "to address this concern so as to find an amicable and speedy way of returning the operations of VRA to its normal and productive conditions."

Meanwhile Chronicle gathered from workers it spoke to that there is strong suspicion that some people in government led by Mr. Mpiani, were finding a way to make them agree to the return of the CEO, whom to the best of their knowledge, the committee did not completely exonerate from the allegations "because there are other matters that are still being studied which are of a technical and financial nature."

According to them, the Minister of Energy, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, had assured them that the matter would go the full hog until it was settled satisfactorily.

"But it seems the matter has been hijacked, and he has been sidelined, for the Chief of Staff and his people to force the man on us. It won't work," Chronicle was told.

The workers revealed that among the so-called government arbitrators is one Owula Mangortey, an unemployed self-styled commentator and former low level employee of GNPC, married to a GNPC worker who was victimized at VRA. Mangortey, the workers said was recently exposed by Wereko-Brobby in a press statement, but now appears to have 'converted.'

Another whom they simply named as Afoko is said to be a lay about at the Castle, with no known office.

We reproduce the full text of the workers' press release for the benefit of our cherished readers:

Press release by staff groups on the VRA crisis situation

The leadership of the staff groups have noted with concern the various publications and discussions in the media on the VRA issue.

As indicated in our first release, the leadership have not responded to the various publications because of the respect we have for the various high public officers involved in the investigative process.

However, we feel compelled to react to the most recent published release allegedly issued by the chief of staff. The staff leadership is very conversant with the chain of procedure for the release of genuine official communication and the requisite officers who effect such releases or information.

We are convinced that the current release as published in the media cannot have emanated from any of the recognized relevant official sources. We have noted that most of the previous publications emanated from the "step-aside" chief executive, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, and his hirelings.

We trust the public to recognise that the story so far has been one-sided and calculated to mislead the public on the burning issues of the crisis.

The leadership now feels obliged to table the contents of the petition presented to the sector minister, Dr. Nduom and copied to his Excellency the President.

1. Power generation problems

2. Image of VRA under the chief executive

3. Administrative policies and procedures

4. Disregard for procurement procedures and sanctity of contracts

5. High degree of vindictiveness

6. General staff perception of the chief executive's management style

7. The VRA board

8. Forensic audit

9. Conclusion

We wish to put on record that ample verbal and documentary evidence to the above points were made available to members of the minister's committee investigating the issue.

Since the 13th June, 2003, whilst the investigations and discussions were on going on the crisis, two men namely, Messrs Owula E. T. Mangortey (a social commentator) and Paul Afoko claiming to have been sent by the President contacted some members of the staff leadership of the VRA to agree to some terms they claimed have been worked out by the president for the return of the step aside CEO.

Among the proposals put before the leadership were the following:

1. Formation of IMC to be headed by Dr. Wereko-Brobby and to include the staff group leaders who had been spoken to.

2. To salvage the political image of Dr. Wereko-Brobby

3. To help dissolve the present board and form a more vibrant board that can put checks on the CEO.

4. To down play the magnitude of the financial and technical malfeasance raised against Dr. Wereko-Brobby by the staff.

The staff leadership have categorically, repeatedly and vehemently rejected all these offers and this information had been passed on to staff at all work locations who are in full support of the stand of the leadership.

Over the last few days, it must be noted that these two men, Messrs E.T. Mangortey and Paul Afoko have tried persistently to contact and convince some of the leaders on the same issues but have failed to do so.

The leadership notes that from previous experience in dealings with government on such sensitive issues government would not by-pass its laid down official channels of communication with staff leadership in resolving the crisis.

We strongly urge the appropriate security agencies and the sector minister to take a critical look at the activities of these men who have been described as security agents by the Evening News frontpage publication of July 2, 2003 with a view to bringing their activities to a halt.

Available immediately to the staff leadership copies of the committee's report as well as the minister's recommendation to the president, the latter document now being in the public domain.

We take serious note of the present agitation on the staff front and we would humbly appeal to them to remain calm whilst we take the necessary steps to deal with it appropriately.

Our singular interest in all these is to bring out the truth, which would only lead to a genuine resolution of the crisis.

We wish to assure all Ghanaians that VRA staff have always been responsible and will continue to remain as such especially in this disturbing crisis. We shall not rest until the Ghanaian public is told the whole truth.

Signed by:

Marian Antwi For staff groups

July 3, 2003