Ghana: Interdicted TICO Workers Petition Energy Ministry To Investigate Their Management

Seven interdicted executives of the Workers Union at the Takoradi International Company, TICO/TAQA, operators of the 330 megawatts T2 combined-cycle plant in the Aboadze Power enclave of the Western Region, have called on the Energy Minister to investigate their General Manager, Ernest Kofi Osafo for allegedly mismanaging the plant and mistreating workers.

The workers who spoke on condition of anonymity say they now want the Abu Dhabi Group owners to replace their leadership or pay them off.

The 330 megawatts combined cycle plant, generally referred to as T2, is operated by the Takoradi International Company, TICO/TAQA, which is a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company with VRA owning ten percent.

According to one of the interdicted workers, the plant has been operating at one-third of its full capacity of 330 megawatts since October 2018 due to alleged mismanagement by the General Manager, Ernest Kofi Osafo, and the Plant Manager, Nellissery Krishman.

“It has to do with managerial decisions which are preventing the plant from running at its full capacity from time to time. This affects me as a worker and as a Ghanaian. We all know the effects of power instability on individuals and business, therefore we have a duty to act on such. Some of the managerial deficiencies that are not helping and workers are not happy include a filter which was found not working on 30^th January this year.”

“Maintenance was expected to have been done after we informed them, rather, instead of asking for the plant to be shut for maintenance, they were looking for high productivity and money. Therefore the plant was allowed to operate till the filter house collapsed and about 160 out of the 330 megawatts was lost. There was also an issue with the by-pass stop valve which we brought to the attention of the management led by Mr. Ernest Kofi Osafo, as the hydraulic was leaking.”

“Again, instead of allowing the plant to be shut-down for maintenance work to be done, they allowed the plant to operate until there was a fire outbreak. These and many others are what is making the workers unhappy which they wrote to the company CEO in Morocco to investigate. Instead of management waiting for that investigation to be done, they went ahead to query some individuals. This is why some of the executives expressed their displeasure with such managerial deficiencies by putting on the red armbands even though we have been working all throughout.”

Meanwhile, the General Manager of the Takoradi International Company, Ernest Kofi Osafo, indicated that the interdiction of the seven union executives is justified, insisting they have breached the labour laws by their conduct.

Source: Citinewsroom.com