NACOB workers threaten strike

Page 55: June 19, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
WORKERS of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) have threatened to go on strike on July 2, this year, over poor working conditions and alleged acts of nepotism by the Executive Secretary, Mr Ben Botwe.
The staff said nothing would stop them from letting the world know their problems unless immediate solutions to their concerns were found.
Tension had been mounting at the NACOB for sometime now and reached its peak last week, resulting in an emergency meeting convened by the management to assure the workers of efforts to deal with their problems.
Mr Botwe was said to have attributed the problem to the reshuffling of the Interior Ministers by the President.
Some of the workers who confirmed the problems at the NACOB to the Daily Graphic said non-graduates were being paid as low as GH¢80 while graduates with more than 12 years experience were receiving about ¢288.
According to the workers, while they were being paid low salaries but doing “all the donkey work”, members of management were enjoying the toil of their labour.
They alleged that the management often held series of meetings paying themselves huge sitting allowances.
They said although the salary of the Executive Secretary was not even up to GH¢400 in the salary books, he ended up taking not less than GH¢1,000 a month.
“We are highly discouraged, demoralised and embittered,” one of the workers stated.
One of them said it was not surprising that suspects were now accusing NACOB staff in open court for collecting bribes from them.
They also accused the Executive Secretary of recruiting his church members and putting them in top positions and called for a probe into recruitment under his administration.
They said some of the graduate staff members who were employed last year had not yet been given appointment letters, saying that even the directors got their appointment letters only last week in the heat of the turbulence.
“There is no transparency in his recruitment policies,” they alleged.
One of the workers told the Daily Graphic that there had not been any arrest within the last three weeks because of the frustration and disillusionment at the NACOB.
The workers said there was also favouritism when it came to who should be sent to the airport for duties.
At the meeting last Thursday, June 12, 2008, Mr Botwe was alleged to have lambasted one of the senior officers for instigating the workers against the management.
Mr Botwe was said to have explained to the workers that when Mr Kwamena Bartels took over from Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, he (Bartels) said he would not work with any document that his predecessor had dealt with.
He is also alleged to have said that just as Mr Bartels was about to finish working on the new conditions of service for the workers, he was replaced, so he urged them to be patient with the management.
Mr Botwe was also alleged to have told the workers that he was brought in from the Food and Drugs Board to restructure NACOB and that if the workers thought he could not do the work, they could ask for a new person to take his place since he was trying his best under the circumstance.
They said newly recruited staff members who wrote to management complaining about their salary were threatened with dismissals since they were still on probation.
They alleged that certain people were appointed to certain positions depending on their relation to management.
They said at the meeting he accused previous managements of incompetence.
"Some of the new staff members at the meeting were surprised by such statements since the newly recruited officers are now occupying residential properties seized from drug dealers by previous managements," one of the staff members said, stressing that "in fact, Mr Botwe and his friend directors are using vehicles confiscated by the same managements he claims to be incompetent".
One of the new staff members said the way in which the management was treating and spreading false allegations about old staff members and management and accusing them at the least opportunity was in bad taste.
“You cannot even get near some old staff members because management has branded them as bad lots. We have worked with them for some time now and realised that these old hands are rather more competent and experienced,” the staff stated.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of NACOB, Mr Francis Opoku Amoah, said the management had decided to notify board of directors on the issues before responding to any media queries.