Trade Fair CEO On Rampage

The Acting Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Ghana Trade Fair Company (GTFC) Limited Dr. Agnes Adu last Wednesday embarked on a ruinous demolition of some offices of private businessmen who are tenants of the Trade Fair Company, blatantly disregarding an injunction placed on her by an Accra High Court whilst ignoring advice from the La Traditional Council (LTC) too.

In an interview with the Chairman of Tenants Association of the GTFC, Peter Awoonor-Williams indicated that it was obvious to them that the acting CEO had something clandestine up her sleeves when she took charge and started her skirmishes otherwise she would have taken a different or a much better approach rather than what she did without consulting or engaging the tenants.

“She claims she wants to do re-development and we are absolutely all for it because we are stakeholders. We are tenants who pay rent and have invested in expansion and renovations all these years so she needs to engage us in her re-development plans and give us first option of allocation upon completion or simply pay us compensation and take over the property rather than this crude and disrespectful approach”, he argued.

Mr. Awoonor-Williams said, “We got wind of her intentions earlier and as time went by she proceeded to mark almost every office with red ink inscription which read “Remove by Order”, yet we didn’t know by whose order she was operating with.”

“When we realized what her intentions were we also went to secure an injunction from an Accra High Court Commercial Division, served her and posted copies on all the offices she had marked for demolition but she would not budge”, he noted.

“We were informed from the La Traditional Council that they had actually asked her not to embark on any such actions because the GTFC hadn’t even made good their indebtedness to the council. The council also refused to meet the CEO and Board Chairman Dr. Daniel Mckorley last Thursday for any further discussions until the Trade Fair Company clears itself with the Council”, he added.

The Chairman of the Association also noted that they had heard that some youth group from La were preparing to demonstrate against her actions and that they will give them all their blessings while they pursue the matter in court.

Meanwhile, after three days of trying to get a reaction from the CEO of GTFC, she declined to speak to this reporter stating that she doesn’t speak to the media, her PRO does. Apparently, the PRO had taken a seven day leave of office without her knowledge and when she was prompted about the PRO’s leave, she asked this reporter to write officially to the PRO’s office and that when he resumes he will respond.

Further investigations into the matter revealed that Dr. Agnes Adu(agt. CEO GTFC) was actually appointed from the Ministry of Finance by the Minister himself, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta in a letter signed by the latter dated June 2017, from the Ministry of Finance and addressed to the Company Secretary of the GTFC. It is not quite clear whether the Finance Minister wields the power to appoint the head of the company or an agency which falls directly under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Stay tuned for more details.