Staff of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), have threatened to embark on a strike if their demands for the dissolution of the Board of the Corporation is not met.
The state broadcaster’s workers Union have barred members of the GBC Board, chaired by Richard Kwame Asante from entering the corporation’s premises.
“There’s no turning back. If my job is on the line, the numerous dependents that you and I have, their lives are equally on the line so it is either I go for it or they come for me. It is either we sit down for 24 hours without any transmission countrywide or Monday morning we hold a press conference and invite all the press in the country.”
NMC absolves GBC Board
Meanwhile the National Media Commission (NMC), has cleared the governing board of GBC of any wrongdoing after a petition sent to them by the workers’ union.
The Executive Secretary of NMC, George Sarpong, debunked the claims saying their investigations proved that the board was innocent of the allegations that had been levelled against it.
“The GBC union made a number of allegations to the commission. The commission established a committee to independently investigate the claims and the committee took each of the claims one by one and gave the union the opportunity to prove the case against the people. They could not substantiate any of the claims they made,” he said
“They took time to investigate this matter thoroughly beyond the claim that the GBC union made. The commission went out of its ways and investigate further into the matter and found that those allegations were unsustainable,” Mr. Sarpong added.
NMC ‘in bed’ with board
The workers accused the NMC of betraying them by lodging a complaint with the Police because of their decision to prohibit the GBC board members from entering the premises.
A worker at the GBC who spoke to Citi News on condition of anonymity said: “The NMC has refused to objectively consider the issues in question, when they came out with their fictitious reports earlier to clear the board, they were popping champagne and celebrating.”
Protesting workers to be punished
Management of the GBC is set to crack down on the protesting workers.
A memo sighted by Citi News indicated that, any person who was a signatory to a document declaring the GBC board persona non grata, will be punished.
“GBC management considers the whole write up as misconduct on the part of the signatories to the notice and appropriate procedures will be invoked to ensure sanity within the corporation’s governance structure,” the memo stated.
The memo also noted that, the “the union does not have the mandate to declare the board persona non grata. Constitutionally, the National Media Commission (NMC), is the statutory body mandated to appoint and dissolve the GBC board.”
“Any grievance about the work or conduct of the board should be reported to the NMC for redress.”
– citifmonline