The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) staff have partially withdrawn their services from all five operational areas effective Wednesday, February 8, 2023.
All field services have been suspended except for emergency and power vending situations.
The emergency cases include broken conductors, broken poles, transformers on fire, pole burning, among others.
According to the Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of the NEDCo branch, William Kwame Asare, who spoke to Yagbon News in an interview on February 16, 2023, said this is a result of the Board of Directors failure to remove the Managing Director (MD) Osmani Aludiba Ayuba.
He added that the cash flow situation of NEDCo is worsening every day. As a result, NEDCo is unable to pay most of its suppliers and contractors.
The group had given the MD on or before Monday, January 31, 2023, to “voluntarily resign or be removed from office by the NEDCo Board of Directors.”
They also announced a series of actions to drive home their demand for his removal.
In a petition to the Board, the staff said despite being appointed as Managing Director to help turn around the finances of NEDCo, after three and a half years in office, Mr Ayuba “has failed to help turn around the finances of NEDCo” and hence can no longer continue to hold that office.
Among other things, they cited “worse financial performance of NEDCo, lack of a clear strategy for the company, exorbitant sole source procurement of point-of-sale devices and worsening distribution losses”.
The group, therefore, noted that the deadline given to the MD to resign had elapsed, yet their demands had not been met.
As the first step to drive home their demand, the staff hoisted red banners in all operational areas of NEDCo, including the service centres, on February 01, 2023.
Meanwhile, Mr Kwame Asare told Yagbon News that they would not relent on the partial withdrawal of services until the MD is removed.
Speaking on the same matter with Abdul Fataw on Yagbon Radio morning show, Union Chairman of Public Services Workers Union (PSWU), Mr Fuseini Adjei, said the company has been under performing under the Ayuba administration.
He added that the company has retrogressed since Mr Ayuba took over as the managing director some three years ago.
“The net financial loss of NEDCo instead of improving has deteriorated from GH¢315.398 million in 2018 to GH¢392.406 million as of September 2022. The estimated net loss for 2022 is over GH¢400 million. This means NEDCo’s performance deteriorated by at least 24% over the period,” he told Yagbon radio.
As of September 2022, NEDCo was indebted to its major suppliers to the tune of GH¢1.8 billion. NEDCo is struggling to raise Letters of Credit to procure critical materials and equipment required for its operation under the watch of Mr Ayuba.”
Mr Fuseini Adjei added that they had a fruitful discussion with the sector minister and hope their concerns would be addressed by the President.
Source: yagbonradioonline
