PURC staff respond to board; say they can’t be intimidated

PURC workers want a new Executive Secretary and board[/caption] The Staff Union of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has come out hard against the Commission’s board, saying its members cannot be “cowed into submission”. The staff members maintained that the Executive Secretary, Samuel Kwadwo Sarpong, should be shown the exit and a new person appointed while same is done to the Emmanuel Annan-chaired board. “The Union solely wishes to draw attention to the plight of professional and hardworking members of staff after several attempts to correct the wrongs and injustices that have characterized Executive Secretary’s administration (October 2012 to date) and the current Board headed by Mr Emmanuel Annan whose tenure has spelt disaster for the Commission,” the staff said in a statement issued on Wednesday in response to the board. Last Friday, the board issued a statement to condemn earlier actions by staff at the Commission’s headquarters, where offices were locked and some officers denied access to their offices. READ: PURC staff locked out of their offices; want Samuel Sarpong sacked The board indicated that Augustina Nana Yaa Jantuah was still an officer of the Commission despite resigning her position of Director of Public Relations and External Affairs (D-PREA) in May. The resignation is to take effect in November. But the staff denied ever disallowing any officer access to their offices, mentioning that Ms Jantuah was not obstructed when she came to the office for a meeting. “The premises of the Commission remain a public place and on no account has the Union barred the resigned personnel from entering the office environment. “If indeed, the D-PREA was debarred, how come the meeting of Wednesday, September 6, 2017 took place with her in the Conference Room of the PURC?” they queried. The staff members were not happy with the denial of their grievances by the board. They want the presidency to “take a look at our petition and appoint a new Executive Secretary and Board to make PURC work again in the service of Mother Ghana.” By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana Follow @kwame_amoh]]>