The Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has slammed the Managing Director of Intercity STC Coaches Limited (ISTC), Nana Akomea, after revelations of the financial challenges of the state transport company.
In a post shared on Facebook, on Wednesday, May 5, 2024, Edudzi said that Akomea has been sitting in interviews criticizing former President John Dramani Mahama, calling him incompetent but under his watch, ISTC, formerly known as State Transport Company (STC), has been posting losses since 2017.
He added that not only is the company making losses under Nana Akomea’s watch, but it is also failing to pay the benefits of its workers, while its fleet of buses has also reduced drastically.
“Every Friday, Nana Akomea will sit on Metro TV Ghana and make a case for Dr Bawumia.
“In doing so, he will call Mahama incompetent, etc. Take a look at his report card on how he mismanaged STC,” he wrote.
The NDC legal director added, “Other reports also claim the state of STC includes the following; 1. Workers’ Provident Fund arrears for 6 years. 2. Workers’ Tier 2 arrears totalling 6 months. 3. Workers’ SSNIT deductions in arrears exceeding GHS 6,000,000.00. 4. Only 39 out of 145 buses are road-worthy. 5. STC owes ADB almost GHS 140,000,000.00.”
He also shared a document which showed that ISTC has been posting losses worth tens of millions of Ghana cedis since 2017.
Edudzi’s remarks come after staff of the state transporter protested the appointment of a third deputy managing director.
The staff, in a petition, described the appointment of the third deputy managing director as unnecessary, saying that the two current deputies are sufficient to manage the corporation’s needs.
They urged the corporation to focus on acquiring more buses and addressing significant financial obligations, including settling over six million cedis in overdue pensions.
“It is imperative to emphasise the current challenges facing the company, particularly the dwindling fleet of operational buses. Presently, out of a total of 145 buses, only 39 are deemed roadworthy.
“The outstanding provident fund contributions and other statutory deductions are significantly overdue. The arrears include provident fund contributions overdue for about six years, Tier 2 arrears totalling six months, and SSNIT deductions exceeding six million Ghana cedis (GH₵6,000,000.00),” the petition detailed.
Reacting to this, the management pf ISTC, in a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, said that most of the issues raised by the workers were being addressed.
“Arrears on Workers’ Provident Contributions have dated from 2011 (i.e., fourteen years ago). The arrears have progressively been reduced to four years. (These four-year arrears have been largely due to the Covid-19 difficult operating environment).
“SSNIT arrears have dated from 2013. STC is now current on monthly payments. The arrears have also been reduced to a little above GH₵ four million,” part of the statement reads.
ISTC also stated that it has cleared a huge part of its debt with the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).
“The STC debt to ADB has been reduced from GH₵140,000,000.00 to GH₵8 million. STC pays GH₵2 million monthly to ADB.”
It added, “The ISTC Board will meet with the Union leaders on Thursday, June 6, 2024, to resolve the workers’ anxieties over the new appointment, which has occasioned the petition.”
