History was made on Wednesday (28 June 2023) when past chief executive officers and board chairmen of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) united with the current CEO and board chair to form and inaugurate the GNPC Retired Staff Association (GReSA).
The association, among other things is to unite GNPC former employees on pension, seek their welfare and provide support for them.
Tsatsu Tsikata, the honored keynote speaker for the event joined the current CEO, Opoku Ahweneeh Danquah with former CEOs, Nana Boakye Asafo-Adjei and Alex Kofi Mensah Mould, together with current and past board chairmen; Freddie Blay, Stephen Sekyere-Abankwa and Felix Addo did the inauguration together in Tema.
Ahweneeh Danquah, chairman for the occasion, said the national oil company is open to collaborating with retirees of the Corporation in achieving its set objective of becoming a world class operator in the oil and gas industry.
He said the birthing of the association bodes well for the organization as it presents it with critically needed knowledge reserve to be tapped into by current managers and employees.
Ahweneeh Danquah noted that while retirement is legally required of formal employees of the organization, it is not by itself a restrainer of one’s ability to make meaningful contribution to its growth even after exiting.
“Retirement is not the end of the road, but the beginning of an open highway,” he said.
Citing the case of Sonatrach in Algeria which uses retired staff as consultants in building the capacity of its staff and that of other emerging oil countries at its training institute (Sonatrach AIP).
Updating the team on the status of GNPC’s current operations, he said the corporation is expediting its search for hydrocarbons in the inland Voltaian Basin and used the opportunity to thank previous executives and staff who, in diverse ways, indispensably contributed to this project.
“We just completed phase IV of the seismic acquisition in the northern part of the country. The plan is to drill an exploratory well in the 1st quarter of 2024 and all activities necessary for the successful drilling campaign have been activated with preparations underway,” he added.
He said the project’s success would be a game changer expressed hope to count on the knowledge of members of GReSA when required in this regard.
Tsatsu Tsikata, the special guest speaker, retraced the history of GNPC’s growth into becoming fully functional as the national operator. He highlighted the importance of building local human capacity and eulogized several past employees who exhibited world class competences that shaped the corporation’s vision.
“GNPC has an enviable culture of developing and celebrating the capacity of its employees and this was done in a national context that ensured a sense of pride in the ability of Ghanaians to grow on their own even to the bewilderment of expats and partners from other nations and such is the capacity of those present in this association,” he said.
He commended the Management and board of GNPC for recognising the association as collaborators and not competitors of ideas and thus, contributing to its formation.
Another former CEO, Nana Boakye Asafo-Adjei, in his solidarity message, noted that though it has taken decades for this to be realised, he praised the current leadership of GNPC and all others who played a role in achieving this for their hard work.
He said despite the ages of the members, they have acquired hands-on experience and expertise that is rare in the oil industry and therefore challenged them to make a bold attempt to develop a strong and mutually beneficial relationship between GReSA and the Corporation.
On his part, Alex Mould lauded the efforts of the members of the Association.
“I’d like to congratulate you all for the successes of GNPC and also for bringing about this group which holds within such invaluable knowledge which should be harnessed by any government,” he said.
The newly sworn-in GReSA leadership is led by Lawrence Sam as president, K B Amissah-Arthur as vice-president, Prosper Ahiakpornu as financial secretary and Edward Ababio, executive officer.
The rest are Maame Yaa Adusei, executive officer, Edward Osom, executive officer, Nana Osei Bonsu, executive officer and Ben Asante executive officer.
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