The Auditor General has indicted the board of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company (GCMC) for the astronomical and illegal increase in the monthly fees and sitting allowances for the chair and members between 2016 and 2017.

According to an audit into the operations of the company intercepted by Starr News, monthly fees have seen some 400% increment since the new board took over.

The allowance for the board chair which stood at ghc650 has jumped to GHC3000 while that of members which was GHC 500 has ballooned to GHC2000.

“Our review of the first (1st) minute of the Board of Directors meeting of the Company held on Thursday 2I September, 2017 disclosed that the Board increased their monthly fee, and sitting allowances by themselves instead of seeking approval from members at a general meeting. The monthly fee was increased from GHC650 for Chairman and GC580.00 for members to GHc3,000.00 for Chairman and GHC2,000.00 for members. The sitting allowance was also, increased from GHC600.00 for Chairman and GHC500.00 for members to GHC1000,” the audit report said.

It also indicted the CEO of the company Frances Essiam of arbitrarily increasing the salary of staff without recourse to procedure.

“The Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) of the Company, arbitrarily increased the salary and wages of the workers by 30% to 50%. She again increased the number of staff from 36 to 59 without approval from the governing board, or reference to any approved salary structure and scheme of service. This resulted in an increase of the Wage bill astronomically, from GHC44,531.81 in June 2017 to GHC112,404.78 as December 2017”.

The infractions are part of several of similar situations in the report intercepted by Starr News.

Officials of the company declined to comment on the report when contacted by Starr News.

Last year an impasse between the board and the CEO led to the dissolution of the board.