The government has removed the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company (GCMC) together with all the members.

In a resolution dated July 5, 2018, and signed by the Finance Minister, government said that “the Chairman and all the members of the Board of Directors of Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company Limited, which was inaugurated on 20th September 2017, are removed from office with immediate effect.”

The resolution made reference to Section 185 (1) of the Company Act which notes that “a company may by ordinary resolution remove from office all or any of the directors despite anything in its regulations or in an agreement with the director.”

In early May 2018, the Chief Executive Officer of GCMC, Frances Essiam, was suspended by six of the nine members of the board, over claims that she had mismanaged the company, and also awarded some contracts without the approval of the Board or the Energy Ministry.

Prior to the suspension, the board queried Madam Essiam over the allegations of mismanagement.

Madam Essiam, who prevented the board members from holding a meeting at the company’s premises before her suspension, eventually defied the suspension, and returned to work with the support of the workers, insisting that she remained the CEO.

The State Enterprises Commission (SEC) and the Ministry of Energy intervened and asked the board to freeze the suspension of Frances Essiam as CEO to enable a three-member committee to look into the impasse and recommend the way forward.