GCMC CEO, Frances Essiam should be sacked – Duncan Amoah tells Prez

Mrs. Frances Essiam[/caption] Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah wants the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company (GCMC), Frances Essiam sacked. His calls follows government’s dissolution of the GCMC board on Wednesday, July 4, 2018. Speaking on 3FM’s Sunrise morning show, Duncan Amoah said information available to COPEC indicates that findings from a 3-member committee constituted by the Energy Ministry to investigate issues at the GCMC did not absorb the CEO of any wrongdoing. “The report will eventually condemn both parties. It will be shocking if only the board gets dissolved while the CEO maintains her position. Per our checks and private engagements with one or two members of that committee, the report has been submitted, and the report in no way absorbed the CEO.” “I will be surprised if that doesn’t happen within the next few hours, because the issues raised by the board have been confirmed subsequently by the committee. For all of this to come to some logical conclusion, the CEO must immediately go,” he added. Duncan Amoah expressed shock over happenings at the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company. “It is quite shocking but it is not to be expected, one would expect any good corporate body to have some harmony between the governing board and the CEO to ensure that the company is on sound footing,” he said. According to him, the board of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company acted within its right by raising issues with some decisions that were taken by the CEO, Frances Essiam. He however condemned the board for going public with some of the issues instead of reporting to the appropriate authorities to deal with the issue. “The board should have reported to a higher authority on some of these malfeasances so that the higher authority will deal with it, but the board came public. In one way or the other, the board also acted ultra vires.” The Executive Secretary of COPEC further stated that the GCMC board is mandated under the Public Financial Management Act to ensure that resources of the company is prudently managed, hence, have every right to question any issue of malfeasance. He therefore said President Akufo-Addo ought to sack the GCMC CEO to ensure that the company bounces back for full operation. “Someone at the EC has fallen on that procurement issue, where you have a CEO of a state owned company procuring equipment to the tune of US$5 million without any standard procurement procedure clearly cannot be let go, and the government should do the right thing by firing the CEO.” Background In May 2018, the GCMC board made a unanimous decision to suspend its CEO, Fraces Essiam following allegations of financial mismanagement leveled against her. Mrs. Essiam defied the suspension and went ahead to carry herself as the CEO of GCMC. The Energy Ministry subsequently formed a 3-member committee to investigate allegations brought against Mrs. Essiam and other matters arising within the company. However, it is unclear whether or not President Akufo-Addo’s decision to dissolve the GCMC board has anything to do with findings from the 3-member committee set up by the Energy ministry. By Irene Amesimeku| 3news.com| Ghana        ]]>