Metro Mass Transport ‘Wahala’: Minister allegedly hides report and lies to President Mahama

Some concerned staff of the Metro Mass Transport (MMT) service have accused the Minister for Transport, Honorable Dzifa Ativor, of shielding the audit report on the Company and blatantly lying to the Presidency. Government recently contracted PwC Ghana, an audit company, to investigate the operations of the MMT service as well as the causes of the alleged missing MMT Buses as reported in the media some month ago.

Spy News Agency’s sources have gathered that the said report is ready and has been submitted to the sector Minister since April 28, 2015. However, for strange reasons, the Minister has refused to make the report public or take action on the recommendations there in, claiming she wants to “manage the resistance of the workers leadership,” else there would continue to be agitations should the Deputy Managing Director be brought back to the company as recommended in the report.

The Minister is further alleged to have told President Mahama recently that the audit report “is not ready” claiming that she was yet to receive the report. This was when the President sought from her an update on the issue. It is unclear why Hon. Ativor is deliberately protecting the report but some of the aggrieved staff of the MMT and members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are not happy with the development and calling for the report to be made public immediately or they will agitate against management.

Spy News Agency has gathered that the audit report by PwC has been penned down for discussion at a hurriedly organized meeting of the leadership of the workers union of MMT scheduled for Thursday, May 21, 2015. The meeting will also discuss the current state of the MMT among others and the aggrieved workers are wondering why the Minister would leak the report to the union leaders but refuse to give a copy to the President of the Nation upon request.  

In a strong worded petition to the Minister earlier and copied to the Chief of Staff, the National Security Coordinator and the National Chairman of the NDC, the aggrieved workers demanded among others that the Minister acts fast on the recommendations of the report and restructure MMT in the interest of the nation.

“We have just been reliably informed that, PwC has just submitted their report to you. Please madam, if this information is true, we would like to humbly appeal to you to kindly fast-track the process of reconstituting the governing Board for the company, and also to take a firm decision on the set-aside Executive Management members.”

The group says they disagree with calls by the leaders of the workers union that led to the dismissal of the then Board Chairman Osabarima Ansah Sasraku III and the Deputy Managing Director, Ing. John Awuku Dzuazah since the allegations against them have not been substantiated.

“we strongly believe that, your prompt intervention in this mess being created by our union leaders and indeed, their NPP allies is crucially necessary in order to set the records straight in the eyes of the Ghanaian people, as soon as the PwC investigative report is submitted to your outfit, please. We believe that the investigative work of the PwC should be made public because of the involvements of some persons or groups of persons in the events before, during and after the strike action embarked upon by the workers of Metro Mass Transit Limited,” the petition stated.

Among other issues the aggrieved workers are asking that the investigative report of PwC be made public so as to clear the government’s name in the whole MMT MISSING BUSES SAGA. “This is because, the impression is being created out there in the minds of majority of Ghanaians that the NDC government’s appointees at the helm of affairs at MMT superintended over the illegal sale of company assets (buses) to their party cronies or faithfulls, instead of helping to grow the company after taking over from the previous NPP regime.” The group is convinced that making the report public is very necessary in order to help correct the wrong impressions being created in the minds of Ghanaians that MMT buses are missing.

They are calling for the dismissal of the current MD, Ing. Noble John Appiah) since he does not appear to be supportive of the vision of the ruling NDC and its ideologies. “Sufficient evidence is available to buttress our case if you require any proofs,” the group stated.

Source: Jeorge Wilson Kingson || Spy News Agency

PETITION FOR YOUR PROMPT ACTION ON PwC REPORT ON INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE OPERATIONS OF METRO MASS TRANSIT LIMITED.

Following an allegation of 12-missing MMT buses (as published by the FINDER NEWSPAPER of December 17, 2014), the leadership of both Senior and Junior Staffs of MMT brought a petition to your outfit for your prompt intervention. In their said petition to you, the union leaders demanded the immediate removal of the then Board Chairman Osabarima Ansah Sasraku III and Ing. John Awuku Dzuazah (Deputy Managing Director), since in their opinion, the two (2) were responsible for the missing buses.  

Our dear hard-working Hon. Minister, we wish to state that we totally disagree with the position of the union leaders because their allegations could not be substantiated, and thus wish to further state that their actions were very deliberate and properly calculated to give our dear government and party a bad name in the eyes of the Ghanaian people, considering the fact that, public transportation (in all its form) is a social intervention programme meant to support the majority poor in any country. 

MMTL was introduced by the then NPP government (a non-social democratic regime) in 2003. Now the actions of the union leaders, which was heavily supported by some leading NPP Members of Parliament was calculated to portray the NDC government (a social democratic government) as a regime that did not really care about the poor and the vulnerable in our society, because of the “perceived” manner with which they claim our government is running down all social intervention programmes that they initiated like NHIS,School Feeding Programme.

Our dear Hon. Minister, we strongly believe that, your prompt intervention in this mess been created by our union leaders and indeed, their NPP allies is crucially necessary in order to set the records straight in the eyes of the Ghanaian people, as soon as the PwC investigative report is submitted to your outfit, please. We believe that the investigative work of the PwC should be made public because of the involvements of some persons or groups of persons in the events before, during and after the strike action embarked upon by the workers of Metro Mass Transit Limited. We wish to further outline other observations as follows:

1) That, as already stated, the investigative report of PwC should be made public in order to clear the government’s name in the whole MMT MISSING BUSES SAGA. This is because, the impression is being created out there in the minds of majority of Ghanaians that the NDC government’s appointees at the helm of affairs at MMT superintended over the illegal sale of company assets (buses) to their party cronies or faithful’s, instead of helping to grow the company after taking over from the previous NPP regime. We are very convinced that, making the report public is therefore necessary in order to help correct the wrong impression being created in the minds of Ghanaians that MMT buses are missing. 

2) That, government should endeavour to probe further the source of the information that convinced the union leadership those 12-MMT buses were missing, and which resulted in the decision taken by the union to embark on a nationwide industrial strike action. We strongly believe that some  Executive Management staff aided the actions of the union leaders in order to perpetrate an illegality on the company and the state of Ghana at large. This is because, very reliable information that we have gathered so far indicates that, immediately after the publication on the 12-MMT missing buses by the Finder Newspaper, Executive Management (led by the Managing Director-MD) set up a 5-Member Committee (headed by the Administrative Manager) to investigate the newspaper publication on the purported missing buses. It is on record that the Committee’s report submitted to the MD on the 30th of December 2014 indicated that NO BUSES were missing. The MD then informed the governing Board at its meeting held on the 7th of January 2015 that there were no buses missing at MMT. The governing Board subsequently directed the MD to ensure that a publication be carried out in all major newspapers in the country (including those that carried the false publication of missing buses) by Friday the 9th of January 2015. The Board further directed the MD to issue caution letters to all union leaders and their members who went on radio and TV stations to speak on the matter without recourse to the company’s rules and regulations, and also considering that, 2-of the union’s own national leaders were part of the MD’s 5-Member Investigative Committee that had previously reported on the alleged missing buses. It is on record, that, the MD failed to carry out the Board’s directives, leading to the union leaders directing their members to embark on an industrial strike action of Monday the 12th of January 2015. We believe that such a probe of the actions of Executive Management and the union leaders will assist government to come to the understanding of their real motivation for doing what they did.

3) That, the current leadership of workers at MMT have grown so much wings that they now try to meddle in almost all management related issues or functions (mainly because of the immense support they enjoyed from the MD), and it’s therefore important that government, through the security apparatus call them to order, by probing further into their strike action embarked upon on the 12th of January 2015. We believe that Ghana’s Labour Law (Act 651) clearly stipulates the procedure for embarking on an industrial strike action. Act 651 further makes it very clear that the punishment for employees who embark on an illegal strike action is outright dismissal. It is important to point out, that, the 2-Top Divisional Union leaders are both NPP operatives who are seriously pushing the NPP agenda in the company.

4) That, after having worked with the current MD (Ing. Noble John Appiah) for over a year and half, we are very much convinced, that he does not, in the least share in our party’s vision and ideology. We believe, and it has been openly confirmed that Mr. Appiah, after having faithfully served as Chief Executive Officer of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) for 8-years under the NPP regime (when the same NPP regime chased out all of our party functionaries in similar portfolios in 2001), turns to support the activities and functionaries of the NPP within Metro Mass and outside of Metro Mass. This is a clear manifestation in the manner with which he has consistently promoted the interest of NPP members and operatives at various levels of the organization, while on the other hand he keeps frustrating and demoting our own people. Sufficient evidence is available to buttress our case if you require any proofs, please.

5) That, we believe because of the sensitive nature of public transportation in the lives of the poor and ordinary people in our society, considering the fact that Mr. Appiah does not share in our party’s vision, we wish to humbly appeal to His Excellency President to replace him with a more loyal and competent person, and notably someone who is one of own and shares in our party’s vision & ideology.    

6) That, we also wish to commend you and your Ministry for holding on to the release of the newly imported buses to the company. Considering the fact that the company currently lacks stable Executive Management and governing Board, your action is very good and deserves commendation. We have just been reliably informed that, PwC have just submitted their report to you. Please madam, if this information is true, we would like to humbly appeal to you to kindly fast-track the process of reconstituting the governing Board for the company, and also to take a firm decision on the set-aside Executive Management members (i.e the MD and the Deputy MD).

7) That, we will like to state that, mass or public transportation as a social tool plays a very crucial role in the politics of any country. Right from the operating crew (i.e the Bus Drivers & Conductors), the technical crew (i.e the technicians who repair & service the buses when they are faulty), as well as management team (i.e the Chief Executive and top managers) who are responsible for the day-to-day administration of the company must largely share in the vision of the President and the ruling party. Because of the politically sensitive nature of mass transportation, it becomes crucially important the caliber of persons who are given the responsibility of the day-to-day management of such public institutions. We are convinced that total loyalty to His Excellency the President and the ruling party, as well as competence on the job, we believe should be the 2-key and overriding considerations or requirements that should guide the appointing authorities going forward.      

Finally madam, we will like to conclude our petition by thanking you, thanking our dear government and party for the good work that you are currently doing at the Transport Ministry, and MMT in particular for the importation of 200-city buses to support the operations of the company. We wish to kindly encourage you to keep up the good job.

God bless our homeland Ghana! Long live our President John Dramani Mahama!! Long live the great NDC party and the Better Ghana Agenda!!! God bless us all.
 

Cc: The Chief of Staff, Flagstaff House-Kanda, Accra
       The National Security Advisor, Flagstaff House-Kanda, Accra
       The National Chairman, NDC Head Quarters-Accra

SIGNED, MEMBERS & LEADERSHIP OF CONCERNED NDC MEMBERS:

NAME OF CONCERN MEMBERS           CONTACT                   SIGNATURE

1. Ahmed Mankama 020 763 4057
2. Wisdom W. Adzedakor      020 369 3654/024 268 1283
3. Baffour Osei-Wusu 024 437 6434/050 128 2661
4. Stephen Kpen 020 113 5769
5. John Mahama 020 730 7501
6. Mohammed Adariwie 024 476 4577