PURC staff lockout offices against Nana Yaa Jantuah’s ‘return’
Workers of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) on Thursday locked up the offices of the commission over what they described as attempts by the management of the commission to reinstate the Director of Public Affairs and External Relations, Nana Yaa Jantuah.
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Ms Jantuah served notice in June this year to resign from her post in November 2017, but the management has debunked the allegation.
The action to lock up the offices, according to the workers, was informed by the decision of the management to allow Ms Jantuah to participate in a stakeholder and communications sub-committee meeting, chaired by Major Albert Don-Chebe (retd), at the commission’s conference room last Wednesday.
The move was, however, misinterpreted by the workers, who alleged that Ms Jantuah’s participation in the meeting was a subtle attempt by the management for the board to reinstate her at its meeting which was to have taken place yesterday.
The regional offices of the PURC in Takoradi, Ho, Kumasi, Tamale and Koforidua are said to have also been locked up to signify uniformity in the action by the workers.
Ms Jantuah tendered her resignation in June this year, to become effective in November this year.
The workers have also called for the dismissal of the Executive Secretary of the commission, Mr Samuel Sarpong, and the dissolution of the board of directors, in line with the Transition Act of 2012.
Banners
The workers locked up the head office with a padlock and hung red bands to signify their intention to protest.
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They also posted banners with inscriptions such as: “An illegal board cannot take decision to reinstate a resigned staff” and “Staff are ready to resist the reinstatement of Nana Yaa”.
Majority of the workers at the head office who reported for work about 7 a.m. were left stranded, while the leadership of the union made frantic efforts to retrieve the keys to open the offices for business.
Petition
The workers union had, in February 2017, petitioned the government, through the Chief of Staff, over what it described as the inability of the two officials to account for money paid to the commission by the utility companies for public hearings and stakeholder consultations.
The petition also accused the two management members of causing massive transfer of key staff from the technical directorates, thereby hampering the work of the commission.
“Under their watch, key functions such as the implementation of pro-poor water projects, solar installation projects, among other functions, have been taken to the Public Relations Directorate that has no technical competence to effectively manage such projects, causing huge financial loss to the state,” it said.
The Chairman of the workers union, Alhaji Zakaria Jabaru, told the Daily Graphic that Ms Jantuah had no business participating in meetings of the commission, since she had served notice of her intention to resign.
He said the details of investigations into financial misappropriation against Ms Jantuah and Mr Sarpong by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) were still pending.
The union, he said, would want the government to implement the recommendations of the report if the two were implicated.
“Under no circumstance should she be invited to participate in activities that could have legal implications for the commission,” Alhaji Jabaru suggested.
The First Trustee of the union, Mr Emmanuel Dowuona, also alleged that the two officials constantly verbally abused employees and seldom promoted female employees to higher ranks under the guise that their input was low, since they often got pregnant.
He called for the government’s intervention to defuse tension at the commission.
Management
Meanwhile, Mr Sarpong, in a telephone interview with the Daily Graphic, debunked suggestions that efforts were being made to reinstate Ms Jantuah.
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According to him, Ms Jantuah only went to the offices of the commission last Wednesday to answer queries raised by the Finance Department in connection with outstanding financial issues that ought to be addressed.
“It is not true that we are trying to reinstate her. How can we reinstate someone who has resigned?” he asked.
He said Ms Jantuah’s resignation was due to take effect on November 15, 2017 and that she had presently taken her outstanding leave.
He said she could, therefore, go to the office, since she was still considered a worker of the PURC until the resignation took effect.
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Asked about her participation in the meeting organised by the stakeholder and communications sub-committee, Mr Sarpong said she was only asked to sit in the meeting since she was still in the transition period, while a new person had been engaged for the position of stakeholder relations.
“It was at the meeting that the Chairman, Major Don-Chebe, suggested that since she had two months to go, it would be appropriate that she adequately prepared the new person to fit in, to which she replied in the negative.
“I don’t think Ms Jantuah was interested in coming back, considering what she has gone through over the past months,” Mr Sarpong said.
He also denied suggestions that he was running a one-man show at the commission and victimising staff members who were opposed to his style of leadership.
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He stressed that the PURC board, which was inaugurated in 2014, had a five-year mandate which would expire in December 2019, saying, “Commissions have different mandates separate from other boards of companies.”