The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Kwame Owusu has resigned. The Evening Mail can confirm.
His resignation comes barely a week after the CEO of the National Health Insurance Scheme has resigned resigned.
Mr. Owusu’s name was in the list of eight CEOs who were reported to have been asked by the government to proceed on leave early this year, an assertion which which was refuted by the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
The Evening Mail on 16th February, 2019 following the resignation of the NHIS boss reported that our Deep throat sources within the corridors of power have revealed to us that all the eight names that appeared in the media some few days ago may be resigning one after the other between now and March 2019.
Proceed on Leave
It was recently reported that the president has directed some Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of some eight public institutions to proceed on compulsory retirement.
The news story that went viral suggested that the directive was in accordance with a provision in the Public Service Act which enjoins public officers to retire from the public service on attaining the age of sixty (60) years and getting a possible extension of five (5) extra years.
The affected CEOs were Mr Eugene Ofosuhene, 67 years, Controller and Accountant General, Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, 68 years, CEO of Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC); Mr. Isaac Osei, 67 years, CEO of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR); Mr Kwame Owusu, 67 years, CEO of Ghana Maritime Authority and Mr Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John) , 65 years, CEO of Forestry Commission.
The rest were Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, 65 years, Director General of Ghana Health Service, Dr Samuel Annor, 64 years, CEO of National Health Insurance Authority and Mr K.K. Sarpong, 65 years, CEO of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
Gov’t’s Denial
The Government however debunked the media reports that it had asked the eight chief executive officers to proceed on retirement because they had passed the mandatory retirement age of 60.
Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, in denying the report, at a news conference in Accra, urged the public and institutional stakeholders to, disregard the information circulating in some sections of the media.
Resignations
However, following the news, two of the names in the list have so far resigned within a space of one week. The first was Dr. Samuel Annor of NHIS who resigned on Sunday 16th February, 2019 and the current one being the boss of the Ghana Maritime Authority.
The Evening Mail maintains that similar of such resignations shall follow in the coming days and weeks as all the eight are preparing to hang their boots and leave government.
Source: The Evening Mail
