Resignation – port workers to the Minister of Transport

Company News of Monday, April 29, 2019

Source: clbadfmonline.com

2019-04-29

Mr. Emmanuel Arhin Young, Chief Labor Steward of the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA), is putting increasing pressure on Transport Minister Kweku Ofori Asiamah to resign from its functions.

According to him, the minister's attitude to the Meridian Ports Services (MPS) agreement will not benefit the Ghana Ports and Harbors Administration; he must leave the office.

In an interview with Clbad91.3FM, Mr. Young said the minister was dragging his feet on the issue since a report from the economic management team suggested a review of the dealership deal.

Mr. Young therefore called on the authorities to urgently issue a white paper on the Technical Committee Review Document to avoid liquidation of the GPHA product.

"If you look at the whole agreement, it's very bad," he said, adding, "When the GPS starts to run, the GPHA will collapse for one or two months or [be] liquidated ".

He wondered why the Minister had been slow to review the project and concluded that he " [minister] is not ready to revise everything ", hence their call for resignation.

In the meantime, the workers' representative on the GPHA board, Mr. Samuel Arhin, thinks otherwise. According to him, firing the Minister of Transport is not the solution. He said that they would continue with their silent protest in the expectation of a directive from the Union of Port and Maritime Workers of the next port.

"We did not say that he should be sacked, we told him that the best thing for him to do, as a minister, is to take steps to review the dealership agreement ", he revealed.

Former President John Mahama launched the Port Expansion Project in 2016.

The project is a public-private partnership between GPHA and MPS for the extension of Ghana's main seaport.

The port is expected to be the largest freight port in West Africa and one of the best in Africa, with a capacity of 3.5 million equivalent 20 feet (TEU) per year.

Due to the semi-automated nature of the new terminal, some manual work and offices should be removed.