The Board Chairman of the Metro Mass Transit Limited, Ahmed Arthur, has challenged claims by some workers of the company that the management was working in its selfish interests despite the company’s dwindling fortunes.
According to him, the new management has turned around the fortunes of the company and increased its profit margins, and is not involved in any malfeasance as alleged by workers.
[contextly_sidebar id=”IJOiwcEVxawHlokrUdnjcmjPOuU5NTwD”]The workers of the company on Wednesday left many passengers stranded at the Kumasi depot, as they refused to work in protest of what said were poor working conditions and the management’s inability to fix challenges the company has been grappling with.
They expressed disgust that the new board’s decision to purchase a new vehicle for the Managing Director when about 100 buses of the company needed urgent repair.
But Ahmed Arthur in an interview on Eyewitness News said the board is considering purchasing a vehicle for the company’s Deputy Managing Director but had not authorized the purchase yet.
He noted that although the board deemed it necessary because the deputy director was using his personal vehicle, it intended to purchase it later.
“We now have two deputy MDs. Hitherto we had one deputy, and the two deputies means that now we have to get a vehicle for one of the deputies. It was necessary that we got one of the deputies a new car, but when we had a management meeting, we agreed that an arrangement is made to purchase one for the deputy later…We haven’t bought any car for the MD,” he said.
He noted that the company had significantly increased its daily income since the new management took over, contrary to claims by the workers.
“The fortunes of the company were dwindling before he [the managing director] came in. He came here only 4 months ago so you cannot claim that he is the one who has presided over the dwindling of the fortunes of the company. It is not right,” he said.
“For the past two months, the fortune of the company is beginning to appreciate. We used to make 130,000 cedis a day, now we are making 230,000 and so there is a turnaround for the company,” he added.
Ahmed Arthur expressed shock with the stance of the workers, noting that he took the decision to retain them at the company although its capacity had reduced and there was the need for some to “shed some weight.”
He denied that his outfit was paying the workers although they were redundant, due to reduced operational capacity, noting that the company had plans to purchase some more buses to boost its operations and the workers will be needed to man the new buses.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana