Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William
Yaw Owusu
Wednesday,
18 November 2015
Some labour organizations, who are monitoring the
case of a dying Ghanaian engineer in South Africa, have accused his employer
Baker Hughes of distorting facts about the victim’s medical condition.
“It is an insult to the family of Andrew Boateng
and the people of Ghana for Baker Hughes to state that by continuing the
payment of his salary when he is receiving medical care, they had gone beyond
the requirements of the labour laws of Ghana,” the group said in a statement.
The statement was jointly signed by representatives
of the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis, Centre for Labour and
Community Rights, ITF National Co-ordinating Council, Ghana, Hull Blyth Ghana
Limited, Supermaritime Ghana Limited, WACAM, as well as Valentina Agyeiwaa aka Afia
Schwarzenegger, a media personality who has shown interest in Andrew Boateng’s
case.
According to the statement, Baker Hughes, an oil
Services Company, the young Ghanaian Mechanical engineer was abandoned in an
aged home in South Africa after an accident in Gabon in 2014.
When the case was publicized the media, the company
organized a news conference and ‘distorted’ the facts.
“The press conference of Baker Hughes on the medical
care for Andrew Boateng contained statements that were not the truth,” adding “the
company did not have any right to make gratis arrangements for his family to
have ongoing access to his salary account.”
“The truth is that Section 2(2) of the Workmen’s
Compensation Act (PNDCL 187) of 1987 states that an injured employee shall not
suffer a diminution in earnings while the employee undergoes treatment for
injuries sustained through an accident arising out of, and in the course
employment.”
They said, “Baker Hughes presented the performance
of its obligations as an employer of Andrew Boateng under the labour laws of
Ghana to the Ghanaian public as an act of charity.”
“That Baker Hughes Ghana has made gratis
arrangements for his family to have ongoing access to his salary account is
confusing, unfortunate and illegal. Does Baker Hughes Ghana have the right to
control the salary accounts of its employees including Andrew Boateng?”
They contradicted Baker Hughes’ claim that the
decision to move Andrew Boateng from Milpak Hospital to Clayton Home had the
consent of the victim’s family, saying “it was taken by Baker Hughes and its
medical insurance agents without the consent of the family when his brother
Joseph Fekah was in Ghana.
“The decision to reduce the medical care for a
person who needed specialised care was based on cost reduction and insurance
cover,” adding “it is unthinkable that Joseph, the brother of Andrew, would
prefer a home without good facilities to a specialist hospital for his dear
brother Andrew.”
The statement said that when Afia Schwarzenegger
reported the company to the National Labour Commission, it became clear in the
referenced meetings with the Chief Labour Officer that Baker Hughes neglected
its responsibilities as the employer of Andrew Boateng to third party agent -
medical insurance company.”
They vowed to pressurise Baker Hughes to get Andrew
Boateng better medical care preferably in the United States.
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