The staff of nations only wire service, Ghana News Agency (GNA) have hinted of a possible industrial unrest if their General Manager, Nana Apua Dua is not let go on mandatory retirement this year. The leadership of the two workers unions previously petitioned the National Media Commission (NMC) separately on the matter, but the NMC said the workers should direct their grievances to the board instead. So they have jointly written a 12-point petition to the Board of Directors demanding that the GM should be made to go on mandatory retirement because he turned 60 on March 12, 2011, besides the board itself has said he was incompetent. They also listed a litany of evidence to corroborate their claim that the GM is incompetent and has let workers and the agency down in his four years administration. Adom News intercepted a copy of the petition and hereby publishes the full text of it below. PETITION ON GNA GENERAL MANAGER’S RETIREMENT AT 60 The Board Chairman Ghana News Agency Accra 22nd March 2011 We, the undersigned, acting on behalf of the entire workforce of the Ghana News Agency, (GNA) would like to bring to your attention the problems confronting the Agency due to the lack of vision and ingenuity of the General Manager, (Nana Appau Duah). We are compelled by his mismanagement of resources, poor maintenance of facilities and insensitivity to the plight of workers, among other issues, to petition you to enforce the Constitutional provision that makes it mandatory for all public servants to retire at age 60 in the case of Nana Appau Duah. 1. At a joint meeting of the Communications Workers Union (CWU) and the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) held on 14th March 2011, members unanimously agreed that it would be in the interest of stakeholders of the GNA for Nana Appau Duah to leave office since he attained the statutory retiring age of 60 on 12 March, 2011. 2. Nana Appau Duah, has an accumulated leave of eight years and should have proceeded on leave prior to his retirement but failed to do so. However, he has directed that all staff due for retirement this year and next year should take their accumulated annual leave. 3. Since Nana Appau Duah took over as General Manager of the Agency in September 2006, he has not communicated his vision or strategies to the staff for the collective responsibility to improve the output and finances of the Agency. Consequently, we have no annual set targets and objectives to work with. In spite of the numerous problems confronting the Agency, he has not communicated any substantive ideas towards solving the financial burdens of workers, in the face of the dwindling government budgetary support. 4. We are of the opinion that if under age 60-and with four years in office- the General Manager could not transform the fortunes of GNA, then he would not possess the magic wand to produce results after turning 60. 5. We have worked with a number of general managers and we can state categorically that Nana Appau Duah’s administration, in terms of competence and leadership, has been the worst. The GNA has never had adequate resources from the Government to run its operations, but through the resourcefulness of past general managers and some staff members, a number of valuable things have been accomplished for the Agency by employing the goodwill and support of development and social partners. 6. For instance, it was UNESCO that built the new editorial wing and computerised the operations of the GNA in 1990. The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung for many years provided resources for the continuous training of staff, while the Japanese, Chinese and Korean Governments through their missions in Ghana, provided technical support in the form of vehicles, computers and telephony systems. 7. Last year alone, the CWU employed the assistance of MTN to refurbish the Newsroom and a journalist, Mr Caesar Abagali, secured 10 used desktop computers and two laptops from the Goodwill Foundation for the Agency. A former editor, Mr Kwasi Kpodo, also got 12 brand new desktop computers, three laptops, a scanner, printers, two switches, wireless router and other accessories from ECOWAS for the GNA. There are many other examples of what ingenuity, dedication and resourcefulness of staff have yielded for the Agency. However, we are yet to see such fruitfulness and innovation from Nana Appau Duah. 8. We were, therefore, not surprised when at the Christmas Staff durbar last year, our Board Chairman, Dr Bonah Koomson, told us in the presence of the General Manager, that most of our problems were the results of his incompetence. For, we have lived daily with this fact for over four years. It is because of these that 10 experienced staff have resigned under his administration, the highest attrition rate the GNA has suffered under one single Chief Executive. In his four-year tenure, he has not been able to organise a single annual manager’s conference for appraisal of work and charting the way forward. Capacity building is also not on his agenda. 9. Nana Appau Duah has limited his administration to the sharing of government subvention but even then he has not been able to manage the resources well for the efficient running of the Agency and meeting the basic needs of staff. 10. The situation where journalists use their own money for transportation to cover assignments but do not get reimbursed for over a year, never happened until he became the boss. Other entitlements are always in arrears and most staff had stopped filing claims because they are aware that they will never be paid. Due to the ingenuity of a Chief Accountant at post last year the GNA secured 170,000 Ghana Cedis covering accumulated claims spanning 2007 to 2009 from the Ministry of Finance. However a large number of those the money was meant for were excluded in the disbursement. The union therefore appealed to the Board to investigate how the money was shared. 11. Operational vehicles often breakdown and there is always no money to repair them; fuel shortages are the order of the day. When computers crash and toners for printing run out the answers are the same. Sadly, when water runs out from our reservoirs it takes weeks to get them refilled with both female and male staff resorting to open spaces as washrooms. We are very much aware that we could have worked with Nana Appau Duah to solve some of these problems but unfortunately, he does not take suggestions in good faith. He considers them as challenging his authority and therefore boasts that he has more classmates and friends in high places than any other staff member. Additionally, he targets those who offer divergent views as enemies for victimisation with queries, threats of transfer, etc. There have been many occasions where he has been at loggerheads with some members of management and staff, including, the Supervising Chief Editor, the next in command. 12. Sir, based on these reasons and others, too numerous to list, with the validation of our judgement by our board of directors that our General Manager is incompetent, we urge you to enforce the Law on Statutory Retiring Age and retire Nana Appau Duah at 60, to forestall an industrial unrest and to save mother Ghana. Cc The Minister Ministry of Information The Chairman National Media Commission The General Secretary P.S.W.U of (GTUC) Accra The General Secretary C.W.U of (GTUC)