The staff of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) have begun a sit-down strike to demand the removal of Mr. Osmani Ayuba as Managing Director of NEDCo.

As part of the strike, the staff are embarking on a partial withdrawal of services except emergency and power vending effective today.

A statement signed by William Asare representing the Staff Groups Leadership of VRA/NEDCo said the staff will report to the office and carry out office assignments, but will not go out to attend to any fault/issue except emergencies.

The statement added that the emergency will include; broken conductors, broken poles, transformers on fire, pole burning, etc adding that in all emergency cases, staff will just isolate the fault and return to the office.

According to the statement, the decision to partially withdraw their services is an update on the resolution passed by staff in all five operational areas of NEDCo at two emergency meetings calling on Mr. Osmani Aludiba Ayuba, the Managing Director of NEDCo, to voluntarily resign or be removed from office by the NEDCo Board of Directors on or before the end of January 2023.

The staff are protesting what they described as poor management skills of Mr Ayuba since he assumed office. The removal has become necessary following the worsening financial performance and position of NEDCo amongst others since he was appointed as Managing Director.

The staff said after three years of his stay, they are convinced he is unable to drive the affairs of the company.

A document JoyNews has sighted indicates that the financial health of NEDCo instead of improving, has deteriorated as of September 2022. The estimated net loss for 2022 is over GH₵400million. This means NEDCo’s performance deteriorated by at least 24% over the period.

The staff further stated that the net loss in 2021 was reduced to GH₵170.723 million ostensibly due to Management's decision to recognise street light shortfall as revenue and a 6% reduction in the Bulk Generation Charge (BGC), adding that the liquidity/cashflow situation of NEDCo is worsening every day.

They noted that the company’s:
i) Accounts receivable grew from GH₵966.595m as of the end of 2018 to GH₵1,489.038m as of September 2022. This represents a deterioration of 54%

ii) Total liabilities increased from GH₵1,116.384m as of the end of 2018 to GH₵2,550.080 as of September 2022. This represents a deterioration of 128%.

As a result, NEDCo is unable to pay most of its suppliers and contractors. As at 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.

The staff held the meetings from January 06, 2023 to January 10, 2023 and petitioned the NEDCo Board of Directors on January 11, 2023 for action to be taken.

According to the statement the Board held two meetings with Staff Group leadership on January 12, 2023 in Accra and on February 03, 2023 in Tamale to discuss the content of the petition.

It said the Board had promised to engage the appointing authority and revert to Staff Group leadership, but up till now their demand to get Mr. Osmani Ayuba has still not been met.