By Laudia Sawer 

Tema, May 22, GNA-Dr Kamal-Deen Ali, the Director-General of the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), on Thursday, paid a surprise familiarisation visit to the authority’s Tema office to assess the work culture of staff. 

During the visit, Dr Ali interacted with staff in the various departments, encouraging them to discharge their duties with the professionalism needed to ensure the development of the maritime sector. 

He said as a new DG who had been in the office for three months, he was aware of his predecessor’s work that he had to build upon; therefore, there was a need to assess how the workers were doing their work. 

He said even though he knew it was a risk to visit unannounced, it was a good exercise, stating, “So for me, I’ve done it as a risk. Just assuming you came with me and then there was an empty office, how does that reflect our work?” 

He expressed satisfaction at the work of the staff as he noted that they respond to work at a very good time: “If you see the numbers that we met, you’ll realise that they are taking their work seriously, so I commend the leadership here, and I commend the staff members here and urge them to continue to perform the task and execute their daily work.” 

According to him, the challenge the GMA suffers from is that people do not understand what the authority does, explaining that their mandate was critical for the country’s economy. 

“We do such very critical work; if we were not to work for a period of a few days, the country could come to a standstill because our work keeps the economy going, because if our work can’t go on, no ship is going to come to Ghana because ships come here with the understanding that there is a competent authority to do all that is required,” he added. 

“Just imagine our oil supplies alone. If we don’t have oil supplies coming into this country for a week, it means that this country will come to a standstill and think about every other thing on our shelves, including the medical supplies and everything, so this is how important the authority is in different ways, and this is how we work with our counterparts, for example, GPHA and Ghana Shippers Authority.” 

Touching on challenges faced by staff, he gave the assurance that management and the board would take step-by-step measures, working with the Minister of Transport as well as the President to work on them. 

Mr Emmanuel Tukpeyi, the Tema Manager of the GMA, who conducted the director general around the office, briefed him on the various works spanning from certification of seafarers, including medicals, to monitoring of vessels at sea to ensure safety and security. 

GNA 

Edited by George-Ramsey Benamba