SFO interdiction order 'witch hunting' – GBC Union Executives
The Union Executives of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) have described as ‘witch hunting,’ the order from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to interdict the Director General of the company and three others.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, Mr. Louis Darko, Divisional Union Chairman, said though the union was not opposed to the operations of the SFO, the National Commission (NMC) had rather the mandate to interdict Mr. William Ampem Darko.
The SFO by a letter dated April 6th 2010 addressed to the Board Chairman of GBC, directed the immediate interdiction of Mr. Ampem Darko and the others by Friday, April 9, this year, to pave way for investigations into alleged financial impropriety at the GBC.
The letter signed by SFO’s Deputy Executive Director, Justice A.Y. Tsar, and copied to the Ministry of Information and Chairman of the NMC, indicated that the SFO was investigating a series of reports and allegations of financial impropriety by Mr Ampem Darko and Mr Oscar Nshor, Director of Technical Production, Mr Augustus Yamson, Director of Engineering and Eric Odonkor, Chief Engineering, Transmission.
Mr. Louis Darko said the union executives were unhappy with activities of the Board of Directors, saying that the board was trying to ‘micro manage’ GBC to the detriment of the welfare of workers and the development of the Corporation.
Mr. Darko alleged that the Board of Directors was behind the complaint made to the SFO over the alleged financial impropriety by Mr Ampem Darko, saying it erred in the way it handled matters without reporting the case to the NMC.
“If you are a son and your father finds you engaged in wrongdoing, your father would have to sit you down and talk to you. He would not complain to an outsider. Our father is the NMC in this case,” Mr. Darko said.
He alleged the Board of GBC had created some divisions among the workers and had neglected its assigned duties and policies instead of fighting for increased salaries and better working conditions for the workers.
“We are today, telling the whole world that we support our Directors and we know it is the NMC that can interdict them. We are calling on the NMC to look into the issue in order to make GBC move forward,” he said.
Source: GNA