[ 2015-04-22 ]

BOST staff demand Presidential inquiry over serious mismanagement
Workers of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport
Company, BOST are calling on President John Mahama
to urgently set up an independent inquiry to
investigate their Managing Director and his
management of the strategic national asset.

The angry workers who spoke to rawgist.com insist
Kwame Awuah Darko should be made to stand aside
and a meticulous audit conducted into his
activities at BOST.

They say a lot of his decisions and actions are
costing the company financially. They believe the
time has come for them to voice out all that’s
going wrong before things get worse.

Workers at BOST cite several instances of deep
mismanagement and corruption for which they
believe the President must act immediately to
forestall the collapse of the company.

“Management should brace themselves for legal
battles and huge compensations”, some angry
workers exclaimed to rawgist.com.

Here are some of their pressing concerns as
obtained by rawgist.com:BOST1

BOST/TSL partnership:
BOST pays TSL a total of $56,170.21 every month
for twelve months as management fees whiles at the
same time paying $594,000 every month for twelve
months each year to cater for reimbursable. The
amounts include money for maintenance, training,
standard operating procedures as well as salaries.
The staff however say TSL is not doing any of
these and does not have the capacity to do so.
“They turn around to use BOST staff to do the
same job and then accuse BOST of lacking
capacity”, they tell rawgist.com.

The amount paid to TSL is an amount that could
have been saved. That amount should be sitting in
BOST’s accounts.

The alarming thing about the deal is that these
hefty payments are being made without invoices nor
any form of acceptable documentation. The payments
continue to go through with the express support of
the MD.

TSL continues to bill BOST for training fees for
no training at all whiles BOST pays separately for
their own training.

“BOST paid for a number of pick-up trucks for
TSL. TSL has given back four of the trucks to the
MD to aid his parliamentary campaign”.

Evidence provided to rawgist.com by some highly
placed sources reveal the Managing Director
presented a budget of $8million for the total cost
of automation across all BOST depots countrywide.
In less than a year however, he has revised the
amount to $16million. The board has also approved
the amount; a situation that bothers the workers
as they believe it was done without due diligence.
They say it is a clear case of financial loss to
the state; a case the President should personally
take an interest in.

The TSL deal was to cut product losses but what
the workers have discovered is that, the losses
they seek to prevent is far less than the cost of
solving the problem as far as their partnership
with TSL is concerned. “The kind of job they are
doing and the amount we are paying them is
unreasonable, the MD is taking kick-backs”, they
opine.

The workers believe the nation has been deceived
about the deal being carried on a pilot basis.
They tell rawgist.com there is no piloting ongoing
and that what is going on is the “real deal”.

Relocation of office and office furniture:
Under the current MD of BOST, the company has
relocated from their Airport residential area
office which according to rawgist.com sources cost
about $13,000 a month to a smaller office around
Dzorwulu which costs $43,000 a month.

“Our former office was significantly bigger than
our new place. We just don’t understand what’s
going on”, some workers lamented.

They also expressed anger at the fact that the MD
has ordered new customized furniture for his
office from the United States of America whiles
other staff as well as managers got office
furniture they liken to “kindergarten tables and
chairs”. They reveal again that the cost of the
furniture is inflated.

GNPC deal:
The staff members also accuse their managing
director of failing to account for a whopping $15
million from BOST’s partnership with the Ghana
National Petroleum Company (GNPC).

“He is the one accusing the previous management
of incurring losses amounting to approximately $6
million. Look at the losses he is incurring in
less than two years in office”, a source
queried.

Restructuring and staff motivation:
The MD attempted a restructuring of the company.
Majority of the people he is bringing in are from
his former company; money systems. They owe
allegiances to him and are mostly unqualified for
the jobs they are doing. “The fascinating thing
is that the MD is elevating them above existing
managers at an alarming rate”.

The MD of BOST is accused of witch-hunting members
of staff he thinks are not in support of his
leadership style. He is alleged to have suspended
the company’s health and safety manager on
“frivolous” grounds for well over five months
without any committee to look into the “trumped
up” charges against him. Whiles the manager is
on suspension, the MD is reported to have gone to
find a replacement for him.

“He also suspended a lady in charge of Human
Resources after accusing her of aiding the Senior
Staff Association to unionize without his
authorization”, a staff member reveals adding
that “he also sacked another lady who was on
sick leave. It took the woman going to court to
force the MD to quickly pay her benefits”.

Last year, he paid “13th month salary” to some
staff and refused to pay those he suspects were
not in favour of his management style. When they
protested, he paid half the amount to them and
left the rest pending.

MD’s debts
Before coming to BOST, the MD is found to have
been indebted to a certain bank (name withheld) to
the tune of $6m. Staff of BOST are almost
convinced the MD is in to use BOST to repay his
debts. They feel his continued stay as MD is a
great risk considering his indebtedness.

The workers say they expect the President to take
action and urgently begin an inquiry.

“The MD should be made to step aside immediately
so as not to compromise any investigations. If he
is found not guilty, he should be reinstated but
if he is found culpable, he should be dealt with
as the law demands”, the staff demanded.

The workers tell rawgist.com “the Senior Staff
Union petition to the board is just a tip of the
iceberg compared to what is to come if nothing is
done about the status quo at BOST.”

Several calls by rawgist.com to the Communications
Manager of BOST; Salifu Nat Acheampong, proved
unfruitful as he declined comment on all the
issues raised.

Keep following rawgist.com for more as our
investigations continue.

Source - rawgist

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