GRi
Press Review 19 – 06 - 2003-06-19
Armed Robbers raid GRi man in Accra
The
new arrangement, which becomes effective by the end of this month, is part of
the Power Sector Reform Programme to ensure effective, efficient management and
higher productivity of the energy sector.
The
Energy Minister, Dr Paa Kwesi
Nduom, announced this in
He
said under the reform, both sectors will be managed by different boards of
directors and chief executives, with entirely different staff.
Dr Nduom said under the reforms, the VRA will need new
talents, expertise and financial skills to make it more aggressive and effective
to generate enough energy at low cost as well as enhance the government’s
efforts at making the country a net producer of energy within the next five
years and export to other countries.
He
cautioned the management and workers of the VRA not to involve themselves in any activity that they will regret later, “for
it might happen that you will be posted to work with someone else somewhere”.
He
also disclosed that a new plant is being built at the Aboadze
Thermal Plant to support the existing two so that energy produced will be at a
lower cost.
Dr Nduom said although one of the plants is owned by CMS
Energy, a private firm, while the other is owned by the government, talks are
underway to merge the two in a joint venture agreement so that both will use
the third plant which will culminate in less production cost and adequate
energy production.
On
the committee’s report, Dr Nduom said concerning the
technical and financial issues, further investigations will be required to
unravel the causes and find solutions to the.
He
was of the view that investigations might lead to finding a solution to the
projected deficit of ¢950bn by the end of the year. He said the investigations
will also inform government’s decision on issues relating to the management of
the authority.
Asked
about the status of Dr Wereko-Brobby, since the
report has exonerated him, Dr Nduom said that the
chief executive will not assume his position rather,
he will still step aside till a firm decision is taken by the government on the
report.
Dr Nduom commended the unionised workers and senior staff for
their co-operation during the investigations, which made the committee to
review a lot of issues. He debunked reports by sections of the media that the
workers did not co-operate with the committee.
He
said the report made no adverse findings against Dr Wereko-Brobby.
However, the conclusion of the report was that Dr Wereko-Brobby’s
management style was a factor that might have caused an industrial conflict
between the workers and management of the VRA.
Dr Nduom said the disturbances at the VRA stemmed from three
main areas of disagreement, namely, collective bargaining negotiations,
specific allegations made against the chief executive and technical and financial
matters relating to the operations of the authority.
He
said the ministry appointed a former Chief Labour Officer, Opanin
Obeng Fosu, to assist the
management and the workers to come to an amicable settlement and this has been
achieved.
He
said with the specific allegations, such as the fraudulent purchase of cars,
increment in the CEO’s salary by 300 per cent, as
well as the mismanagement of provident fund and the impropriety in the
procurement of crude oil for the thermal plant, the
committee did not make any adverse findings against Dr Wereko-Brobby.
Dr Nduom added that the committee found that the board, as a
body, did not exercise control over policy-making activities to ensure good
results and that it also failed to act to resolve the conflict between the
workers and management. – Graphic
Send
your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Armed Robbers raid GRi man in
Accra
Accra
True,
not many robberies are being heard of these days and so there is a sense of
relief.
This
sense of relief, perhaps tinged with some complacency is creating openings for
some of the robbers to continue to strike. But perhaps the police the police
has also become soft and reduced the intensity and regularity of patrols.
Another
advantage the criminals are enjoying is the "cover" the rainy season
gives them because people retire early and sleep deep on cool rainy nights.
Last
Tuesday
Three
persons including a six-year-old girl sustained various degrees of gunshot
injuries.
The
victims include Robert Siaw alias Ofie
who was shot in the right breast, Nii Otu, he was shot in the head and face and his six-year old
daughter whose leg was hit by a stray bullet. The armed robbers took away
jewellery, ¢10m and an unspecified amount of foreign currencies.
Narrating
the ordeal to ADM yesterday, Nii Otu
said a number of neighbours who heard what was going
on made distress calls to the police to intervene - which lasted for almost two
and a half hours but there was no response from the police.
He
said just after
He
said he decided to retreat but the armed robber fired a warning shot which then
paved the way for the others who were then outside to scale the wall into the
house. They forced the front door to the queenmother's
house open with flowerpots.
Nii
Otu, 40, said he pounced on one of them who tried to
open the door leading to the queenmother's room. They
fired several warning shots to cow him, but he did not budge and continued
struggling with them.
But
for the pellets from one of the shot guns fired by the robbers, which lodged in
the left side of his head, Nii Otu
said, he would not have given up the fight to protect the "old lady."
He
said while bleeding profusely he heard the robbers shouting at his mother to
bring out her money. One other was ordering, "kill
am if she is not bringing the money." Naa Ayele managed to escape the scene to the back door.
But was trapped behind her house because she could not scale the wall. Ofie
who lives in the building housing GRi said he heard Naa Ayele screaming his name and
that of his wife to come to her rescue.
He
said when he climbed his wall he saw Naa Ayele's neck being gripped by one of the robbers and
suddenly he was shot by one of the robbers who came to the scene.
Yesterday,
a traumatised Naa Ayele was
at home receiving sympathisers when ADM called. The setting was like a typical
funeral setting. She said but for the money and jewellery the robbers took away
she would probably have been dead by now.
A
formal complaint, the victims told ADM had been made to the Tesano
Police. ADM has not received their views yet. Earlier on the same day, at about
This
brazen act of terror has understandably alarmed the neighbourhood, which is
prone to armed robberies. The disturbing observation is that even though the
robbery took about two hours, the police could not be reached and only arrived
when the robbers had made off with their booty.
Another
even more frightening observation is that though the houses that were robbed
are in highly populated areas and neighbours heard the attack, nobody dared
come out to the defence of the victims. It was each to himself and God. –
Send
your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com