…as workers fume over contracts for retirees

By Justice Lee

Sections of employees at the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) are up in arms against their management for what they termed favouritism and double standards in the administration of the department which is in charge of orderly development of towns and cities in the country.

According to them, the management had granted service contracts to some existing regional directors of the department against standards those same regional directors had set in 2010.

Two weeks ago Chief Executive of the department Glenn Harris and the Director, Asiedu Poku confirmed to The Lead that the post retirement contracts of the Greater Accra Director, Daniel Ayivie and the Eastern regional Director, one Antwi had been confirmed while the other who are also due for retirement were being considered by the Civil Service Council.

Other regional directors who are close to retirement had all applied for service contracts, and are being considered for same, the Director disclosed.

However The Lead is in possession of a communiqué issued on July 3, 2010 by deputy directors of the metropolitan, municipal and district of the department in Kumasi protesting attempts to extend the service of the former Acting Director, I.B Williams who had reached retiring age before being appointed as a care taker director in 2010.

The communiqué issued after the untimely demise of the former Acting Director, Kwadwo Baaffuor-Asare tasked the care-taker director, and I.B Williams to post Mr. Poku to head office as acting director till a substantive director was found for the department.

Parts of the communiqué among other things kicked against the retention of Mr. Williams as Acting Director since he had passed retirement. Notwithstanding the pending decision on the application by the then acting director for a contract, the communiqué asked him to step aside since he had reached retirement, or should step down in rank if his application for re-engagement was granted.

The directors rather surprisingly however gave the green light for seven retiring officers of the department to be re-engaged on contract to serve as mentors for the younger ones.

This situation some officers (names withheld for obvious ethical reasons) of the department believe smacks of double standards on the part of their directors.

“How can you kick against the re-engagement of one person, yet approve of the same thing for another. Where is the fairness in this?” asked the personnel.

“If you keep a retired officer at a position, what happens to the next in line for promotion to the position being occupied by the retiree?” they quipped in a chat with this paper.

The same issue came up in the Ghanaian observer newspaper in July last year, which brought to the fore deep-sited issues concerning promotions, inadequate staffing and other conditions militating against the smooth running of the department.

The communiqué only asked the authorities to respond to the issues in the publication in order not to paint the wrong picture of the department in public.

They wondered how the employment side of the Better Ghana agenda of the government could be achieved if senior staffs of government departments could be awarding cronies with post retirement contracts when the civil service is only allowed to replace retiring or exiting staffs in the absence of new employments.

However, in an interview with The Lead, the Acting Director confirmed that neither most of the issues being raised by the aggrieved workers, most of which were not the making of the current administration, nor the previous ones were genuine.

He explained that the current contract extensions were done in good faith as it was to facilitate a smooth transition onto the new Three-tier planning system being adopted by the department.

“These directors are well trained in it and we want them around to train their juniors as well before they go home finally so that the department does not lose the expertise,” Mr. Poku explained.

For more on the reasons Ghana’s cities continue to be haphazardly planned leaving room for flooding and other disasters, book your copies.