Workers Union of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has threatened a shutdown of operations in the Ashanti Region on Friday, December 13 if government fails to intervene over what they claim to be forceful removal of two of their top Management members from their bungalows.
The aggrieved workers accused some private developers of unlawfully demolishing the fence walls and Boy’s Quarters of their directors’ residential facilities without notice.
Garbed in red and black to signify their anger, the Ghana Water staff at a press conference stated that “the recent actions of the private developers have shown blatant disrespect for our directors, managers, and the entire staff of GWCL in the Ashanti Region. This is unacceptable and has rendered the place insecure”.
“We strongly condemn the unlawful actions that not only undermine the sanctity of public assets but also disrupt the lives of hardworking public servants. The residences in question are vital resources meant to support the effective functioning of government agencies like Ghana Water Limited in the Region”, Vice Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of GWL, Emmanuel Okpoti Kodiah said.
The workers are therefore demanding an apology to the Management of the GWCL and the immediate fixing of the destroyed portion of the bungalows.
“GWL as a company is therefore giving all the private developers a 48-hour ultimatum to reconstruct the walls and restore all other destroyed properties. Failure to do that will mean that GWCL has no relevance in the Ashanti Region and as such will shut down its operations in the Ashanti Region at exactly 9:00am on Friday”, Mr Kodiah warned.
But checks by 3news from the Regional Coordinating Council and Regional Lands Commission revealed that, the bungalows in questions are part of state properties sitting on a 400-acre land that have been ceded back to the Asantehene after a decision to redevelop state-owned residential facilities.
The source confirmed that, the Ghana Water Limited and several other government institutions have been allocated new permanent apartments to move in and pave way for the redevelopment project but Management of GWL has rejected the keys to the new residential facility.
The Union claimed the regional Management has not received any communication from its Head Office in Accra to cede the lands to the developers in question.
“Communication from the Regional Coordinating Council to the region was asked to be communicated to our Head Office, which they did. But we are yet to get any communication or directive to this effect and we at the regional level do not possess the authority to make decisions regarding the assets of Ghana Water Company Ltd”, Mr Kodiah explained.
The Lands Commission and Regional Coordinating Council insist managers of all the affected institutions were duly served notice of relocation months ago with constant reminder.
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