Brig. Gen. Quartey takes office as head of MMT
The Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Aku Attivor, has called on workers of the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Limited to stop engaging in activities that hamper the operations of the company.
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She particularly asked them to stop relaying information on the company to the media, since a media war would not solve its problems, nor fight the workers’ battle for them.
Mrs Attivor made the call at the head office of MMT in Accra yesterday when she officially introduced the acting Managing Director of the company, Brigadier General Ishmael B. Quartey (retd), to the workers.
The ceremony, attended by over 100 workers, including members of all the unions within the company, was also used to perform the hand-over ceremony.
The substantive Managing Director of the MMT, Mr Noble Appiah; his deputy, Mr John Awuku Dzuazah, and the Board Chairman, Osabarima Ansah Sasraku III, were asked to step aside by the government following the workers’ allegation of corrupt dealings within the company.
Some of the allegations concerned financial irregularities in procurement and the disappearance of 12 buses from the company’s yard in Kumasi, Tamale and Wa.
Consequently, they called for the removal of Mr Dzuazah and Osabarima Ansah Sasraku from office and later staged a strike to back their demand.
The strike was called off after the government’s intervention.
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At yesterday’s ceremony, some of the workers protested against the fact that Mr Appiah too had been directed to step aside claiming that he had no hand in the alleged corrupt dealings.
They contended that Mr Appiah was not at post when the 12 MMT buses went missing and, therefore, they did not see the need for him to be asked to step aside for investigations to go on.
Independent investigations
Ms Attivor explained to the workers that the decision on Mr Appiah was to ensure that the investigations were carried out without any hitches.
“We all want this issue to be solved amicably and speedily to ensure that workers can work without harbouring any pain within them,” she added.
Acting Managing Director
In a brief address, Brig. Gen. Quartey said his presence at the MMT was not to cause any further problems within the company but to help transform it into the leading and safest transportation company in the country.
He said there was no need for workers to use destructive actions to discuss their grievances, adding, “We must all try to use approved mechanisms.”
Brig. Gen. Quartey stressed the need for unity and peace to push forward the mission of the MMT.