Court restrains Chairman of GPRTU from contesting in upcoming union elections

28-08-2011
Narration: The Bolgatanga Circuit court presided over by, Emmanuel Kofi Sunu, has placed an injunction restricting the current Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union, Godfred Abolbire from contesting in the union’s upcoming regional executive elections, which is expected to take place after Monday, August, 29, 2011. By this court directive, the National Secretariat has decided to fix a new date for the elections though it was schedule to take place today, August, 28. In a statement issued by a group calling itself concerned members of the GPRTU, the ruling of the judge was not a calculated attempt to sabotage or bring the name of an individual into disrepute but was rather in the interest of union members in the region. The statement revealed that the court has directed that the union set up a three man Interim Management Committee to take over the management of the Regional Secretariat of the GPRTU until a new date is fixed for fresh elections. Signatories to the statement namely, Mr Bugre Baba, Chairman of the Zebila branch of the GPRTU, Mohammed Abolbire, and Seidu Abuba among others are of the conviction that, Mr Abolbire was not in a better position to again contest for chairmanship after serving four year term in office because members have lost absolute confidence in him. According to them, though his tenure of office ends today, August, 28, they do not see the need for him to contest in the upcoming elections since he had repeatedly violated the union’s constitution. It explained that during his first term of office from 2003-2007, he was not able to present an audited financial statement to members of the union, thus taking advantage of the silence of the GPRTU constitution on the presentation of financial statement. However, that constitution has since been amended and a new one mandates the Regional Secretariat of the GPRTU under the leadership of the Chairman to employ the services of the government’s audit service to audit accounts of the GPRTU in the region on yearly basis. The Audited Financial statement according to the statement is then presented for discussion attended by Regional and branch executives of the union under the supervision of the National Secretariat. It lamented that since the re-election of Mr Abolbire as chairman of the GPRTU in 2007 to date, the account of the union has never been rendered for auditing, neither has there been a meeting to discuss the account. This, it indicated, is in contravention to the union’s constitution. According to the statement, the chairman and his executives have also failed to render accounts on how much is accrued from other sources of income generated through the union’s dues, which include rents from their stores and proceeds from the union’s Yutong Buses. Quite apart from that, the chairman has failed to convene a meeting among the Regional Executive Council to discuss issues raised at the National level and the progress of the regional branch as stipulated in Article 18 of the GPRTU constitution. This is normally done two weeks after a national Executive Council meeting is held. The statement is therefore calling on the National Secretariat to as a matter of urgency, constitute the interim management committee to run the affairs of the union. The National Secretariat is also being tasked to constitute an independent team to investigate into claims of financial misappropriation, disregard of union members and blatant violation of the GPRTU’s constitution. The statement is moreover calling on all members to contribute in making meaningful inputs that will make the governance of the union more democratic.