In what has been described as an affront to good corporate governance, President John Dramani Mahama has appointed Kingsley Kwame Awuah-Darko, Managing Director of Bulk Oil Storage and Transport, as the Managing Director of cash-strapped Tema Oil Refinery.
President Mahama, through a statement signed by Chief of Staff Julius Debrah on June 29, 2015, said Mr Awuah-Darko “has been asked to take over responsibility for the management of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).”
However, the statement failed to indicate whether the close friend of the first family was packing bag and baggage from BOST, a national strategic asset he has run down with questionable contractual agreements, profligate expenditure on office accommodation, among a tall list of controversial deals.
Government announced changes in the hierarchy of some public institutions and agencies recently and, according to the Chief of Staff, the changes were part of President Mahama’s ongoing restructuring of the leadership of government agencies.
It is not clear if Mr Awuah-Darko’s double appointment will achieve the desired restructuring agenda.
According to sources within BOST, Mr Awuah-Darko still parades himself and operates as the MD for BOST, even though he has been assigned as the Managing Director of TOR.
Sources within BOST have told the New Statesman that he recently returned from a trip abroad and took decisions for the company after he had been appointed the MD of TOR.
He was expected to take over at TOR from a petrochemical engineer, Dr. Alphone Kwao Dorcoo, who is currently rendered jobless even though it was reported he was being moved to the Ministry of Petroleum.
According to industry analysts, should this ambiguity of roles perpetuate, Mr Awuah-Darko will now be reporting to two separate Boards of Directors at the same time.
A legal expert has slammed the situation, claiming it is unconstitutional for one person to be made Managing Director for two state-owned enterprises.
Corporate governance connoisseurs have also slammed the worrying situation, which they say has the potential of slowing down serious corporate decisions and breeding corruption in the system.
“These are two independent corporate institutions of state with separate functions and we have not been told of any merger of the two companies, so how can one person be a Managing Director of both?” a source contacted by the paper wondered.
Recently, some workers of BOST appealed to President Mahama to set up an independent inquiry to investigate Mr Awuah-Darko and his management of the strategic national asset.
They pleaded with the president to make their MD step aside so that a meticulous audit could be conducted into his alleged financial mismanagement at BOST.
The angry workers alleged that a lot of decisions and actions taken by Mr. Awuah-Darko were costing the company financially.
However, the allegations have not been investigated, but Mr. Awuah-Darko has been asked to take additional full responsibility for the management of TOR.
Among the allegations leveled against him are the controversial agreements he signed between BOST and TSL, a Ghanaian subsidiary of Nigerian-owned Company, which workers of BOST and the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Distribution Companies opposed because the deal was allegedly shrouded in secrecy and at variance with the local content policy of the country.
TSL has been contracted in a 12-month pilot deal to operate, maintain and manage BOST’s petroleum terminals in the country. According to the agreement, the parties in the deal have the option of a five-year extension.
Workers of the company pointed out that under the deal, BOST paid TSL a total of $56,170.21 every month for 12 months as management fees with an additional payment of $594,000 every month for 12 months each year to cater for reimbursable.
Another issue of concern was the expenditure of over $1 million for a new office accommodation, a one-floor building, which costs $43,400 a month, compared to BOST’s previous spacious office at the airport residential area, which costs only $13,000 a month.
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