Mr. Mac Manu flanked by Director General of GPHA, Mr. Paul Ansah and Director of Takordi Port, Captain Ebenezer Afadzi while addressing the press conference.
Board Chairman of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Peter Mac-Manu, has threatened to take legal action against members of the Senior and Junior Staff Unions of GPHA who leveled allegations against him.
According to him, the allegations were made to tarnish his image and label the government as corrupt.
On Friday, May 26, 2018, the Senior and Junior Staff Unions of GPHA, asked President Akufo-Addo to immediately terminate the appointment of Mr Manu.
They accused Mr Manu of obtaining a contract of about GH?4 million to wire the newly-constructed electrical and materials block at GPHA and facilitating a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project.
They also accused him of asking the authority to pay $200,000 for 25 years as part of the project.
“He has seven companies at the ports, five stevedore companies and two cleansing companies. He is using his position to circumvent the procurement process in order to acquire a tug boat (Tema Manhean), the spare parts have been procured to refurbish this tug,” they alleged.
They also claimed the chairman attempted to sell a 24VDC Caterpillar engine starter sold at GH?9,000.00 at Mantrac to the authority at the cost of GH?30,000.
“He is also putting pressure on management to pay over GH?10 million to Britak Steel Company over a matter that was is on court, among others.
Speaking at press conference yesterday to set the records straight, Mr Manu said the Special T Travel, which belongs to his wife, secured a contract in 2005 to issue tickets to GPHA staff.
“In fact, the NDC, after winning power abrogated the contract in 2009. The only reason Special T Travel lost that contract was because of me,” according to him.
He stressed that “Special T Travels renewed its contract with GPHA in March 2017, four clear months before I became the Board Chairman in July 2017.”
Touching on the LNG Terminal Project, Mr Mac Manu said that the terms of the agreement were negotiated between the 12 members drawn from relevant departments of GPHA and that the Tema LNG Consortium was more than the $200,000 figure mentioned by members of the union.
He said GPHA would receive over $5.5 million annually in the form of royalties and other fees from the consortium although no capital investment would be made by GPHA.
“Tema LNG is financing the entire project all by itself. After 12 years of operations, the entire marine infrastructure, comprising a newly constructed breakwater, mooring infrastructure, dredged facilities and all associated developments becomes the property of the Authority. In addition, the Consortium is funding the refurbishment of an existing breakwater of which the Authority is the ultimate beneficiary. The total investment in the marine works is estimated about $200 million,” he mentioned.
He said GPHA would receive upfront non-refundable fee of $600,000, tonnage based royalty of $2 per tonne of cargo which would give a yearly income of about $3.4 million to GPHA, among others.
He maintained that the Board did not take part in the technical and commercial discussions, adding that “attempts to negotiate with GPHA dragged on for nearly a year until last month when the board which I lead stepped in. Our only crime, maybe, is that we directed management to expedite negotiations in light of critical nature of infrastructure to the country’s energy security.”
He asked why the aggrieved union members at the ports were silent when the previous management reduced government’s shares in Meridian Port Services Ltd (MPS) from 30 percent to 15 percent.
Mr Manu stated that he has no GH?4 million wiring contract at GPHA, saying that the Public Procurement Authority has not responded to an application for GPHA to award the contract.
He denied reports that he attempted to sell a 24Vdc Caterpillar engine starter, saying “GPHA on May 2, 2018 purchased the item from Mantrac Ghana Ltd, a sole agent for Caterpillar in Ghana but no other engine had been purchased from any vendor.
He challenged the union members to mention the names of his children who are major suppliers to the authority.
Meanwhile, leadership of Shop Stewards of GPHA has distanced itself from the allegations made by the unions last week.
They called on management of GPHA to sanction members of the union, who breached the Collective Bargaining Agreement of the Authority by travelling outside their jurisdiction without permission.
By Vincent Kubi