body-container-line-1

MMT saga: Government accused of violating Company's Act

By Joy Business | Kuuku Abban
Business & Finance MMT saga: Government accused of violating Company's Act
MAY 22, 2015 LISTEN

Corporate Governance Expert, Joe Aboagye Debrah says government’s failure to reconstitute the board for the Metro Mass Transit Company Limited is an infringement on the Company’s Act.

He said government could have at least instituted a minimum of two people to sit on the board while issues concerning the missing buses were being settled.

Speaking to Joy Business, Mr Aboagye Debrah said the situation is unacceptable.

“In actual fact it is also an infringement of the Company’s Act. The downtime for operating such an entity without a board is about four weeks. At the very least an institution is supposed to have a minimum of two Directors.”

The company’s board was dissolved by President Mahama following a JOY NEWS report on some missing buses which were subsequently found in private garages across the country.

There had been concerns MMT’s pressing challenges may persist without a board in place.

The company has come under serious distress after 330 out of the 945 buses were taken off the road for maintenance.

The Acting Communications Manager Bernice Akologo, said they are expecting about 200 new buses as well as some imported spare parts to fix the broken down buses.

Brigadier General Raphael Quartey (Rtd) was consequently appointed the Interim Managing Director in January to lead investigations into the issues.

Whilst waiting for the outcome of the investigations Mr Aboagye Debrah said there has to be a board in place. The situation now “is an infringement of the law and the government ought to take some steps to address the issue. For a company like the MMT, government is the sole shareholder so it is its prerogative to appoint the Directors.

“It however behoves on government to find the quality people that it thinks are capable of performing those functions and appoint them to the board so that they can help management in steering the affairs of the company” he explained.

body-container-line