Business News of Tuesday, 9 December 2003

Source: chronicle

Omnibus Services Authority Calls for Management Change

To avert the one time buoyant transport organization in the country, Omnibus Services Authority (OSA), which is now gasping for bread, from totally collapsing, some of its staff are calling on the government to sack the top management personnel.

Speaking to The Chronicle in Tamale, the spokesman for the staff, Alhaji Abdul-Razak Mahama, a senior point officer for the Tamale point said the top management that comprises 8 top personnel is the main obstacle to the company's growth.

Alhaji Mahama debunked the impression that the OSA is a mismanaged company, but he admitted that the top is actually mismanaged.

According to the senior point officer, for the government to liquidate or divert the company because of some few people is unfair.

He said the government had better sacked the management of eight and merge the company with the Metro Mass Transport than sending about 720 workers home.

Alhaji Mahama wondered if these huge numbers of workers were going home, what was going to happen to them and their dependants. He therefore appealed to the government to re-think the position of OSA.

He was of the view that, bringing in another transport company, whilst there is an old one, is not the best for the people of this country and the OSA as a whole.

To buttress his argument that the OSA is not a mismanaged organization, Alhaji Razak disclosed that for the past 12 years, the Tamale branch was operating with only 4 buses and up to date, they are operational.

He told The Chronicle that even though they have their salary in arrears, they have been taking their monthly salary from the operations of the four buses for sometime now. "All this is because of good management".

These four buses, according to him, are in a very good condition and he hopes they can work for longer years.

Following the good management practices at the Tamale point, according to Alhaji Mahama, the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly and the Department of Urban Roads have tasked them to supervise the work of the metro mass transport buses delivered to these organizations.

He declared that they are taking good care of these buses and are generating heavy revenue for the TMA and the urban roads.