A diamond cutting and polishing facility valued at $480,000, which was established at the Precious Minerals Marketing Company Limited (PMMC), is no longer functioning due to supposed managerial incompetence, BUSINESS GUIDE has learnt.
The facility was inaugurated in 2012 by the then Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mike Allen Hammah.
A source close to PMMC told BUSINESS GUIDE that the centre had ceased operations since August 2014 because “they were making loses.”
According to the source, management of the company had poorly managed the centre, culminating in its eventual collapse.
BUSINESS GUIDE learnt that some board members of the company in 2012 sent their relatives to India for a six-month skills training programme in precious minerals at the expense of staff of the company, who were supposed to take advantage of the programme.
Upon their return, they reportedly took over the management of the newly established diamond cutting centre.
BUSINESS GUIDE’s source indicated that they lacked the requisite knowledge in managing such a centre and that experienced and competent workers of the company were sidelined.
Huge Allowance
PMMC is said be struggling to survive due to alleged financial mismanagement.
The company, according to information gathered by this paper, could not declare their dividends to government from 2013 to 2014 because they told the government that the company was not making profit.
But the source revealed that despite the financial crisis at the company, top management and board members of PMMC were taking home huge sums of money as sitting allowances.
According to our source, since March 2014, the board members have meet for more than 26 times, with each of them taking home GH¢1,600.00 as sitting allowance.
“The company, in some cases, pays for their air tickets and accommodation when they are to have a meeting in Accra since most of them are not based in Accra.”
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