Francisca Ashietey-Odunton, Acting GBC Director-General
There was an in-house peaceful protest by workers of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) in Accra yesterday following news that board members of the corporation were going to have a meeting at the premises.
The tension at Ghana’s premier broadcasting house does not appear to subside since the workers turned the heat on the board, chaired by Richard Kwame Asante, with a claim that they had lost confidence in the National Media Commission (NMC) to dissolve the board.
The staff appeared to have abandoned work and gathered at the entrance of the corporation, ostensibly to deny the board members entry to the premises.
The situation persisted for about two hours before they returned to their respective offices; but the protest could not disrupt transmission of news from both the national radio and television networks.
A member of the workers’ union told DAILY GUIDE, “The staff marched in their numbers to the main gate because they heard that the board members were to converge here for their usual meeting. It was a very peaceful protest and some of our members were determined to stop them from gaining access to the facility.”
The workers have accused the board of “micromanaging the affairs of GBC” and allegedly misappropriating GBC’s internally generated funds by “illegally” employing directors without recourse to due process.
They vowed to continue the protest until their demand for the dissolution of the board had been met.
NMC Report
Interestingly, the NMC recently cleared the governing board of GBC of any wrongdoing after deliberating on a petition from the workers’ union.
The Executive Secretary of NMC, George Sarpong, his outfit’s investigations proved that the board was ‘innocent’ of the allegations leveled against it by the workers.
“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 way and investigated further the matter and found that those allegations were unsustainable,” Mr. Sarpong added.
NMC vs Workers
The workers on the other hand, accused the NMC of betrayal, saying the commission lodged a complaint with the police following the workers’ decision to prevent the GBC board members from entering the premises.
A worker 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.”
Management Memo
The Management of GBC has said it would crack down on the protesting workers.
A memo indicated that any person who is a signatory to a document declaring the GBC board persona non grata would 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 among other things.
By William Yaw Owusu