KETA MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY: Mass Transfer Hits Nine Officers Over Gross Financial Malfeasance
Assembly members in the Keta Municipality have taken strides to transferring some nine (9) principal officers over what they collectively termed as “gross financial malfeasance”.
This follows a resolution passed by the general assembly after they went into committees to make decisions on the alleged conduct. It was however realized that some funds allocated for developmental projects in the municipality have not been accounted for.
The general assembly thus resolved that the following people be transferred with immediate effect after several investigations by due authorities:
- Municipal Finance Officer – Maxwell Nana Kodjo Appiah
- Municipal Planning Officer – John Ntibre
- Municipal Budget Analyst – Savior Kudiabor
- Municipal Coordinating Director – Kwadzo Dekpo
- Municipal Internal Auditor – Cephas Afetsi
- Municipal Works Engineer – Samuel Dompre
- Municipal Procurement Officer – Antoinette Aheto
- Municipal Stores Manager – Wisdom Ahadzi
- Accountant at the Municipal Treasury – Fred Anyasor
The Presiding Member for the Keta Municipal Assembly, Hon Amos Ametsime, backed by Part 10, Order 42, Paragraph 1 to 4 of the Modern Standing Orders of the District Assemblies, indicated that the above officers have failed in their duties thus should be dealt with accordingly by law.
“These are the officers that the assembly has resolved that they should be transferred with immediate effect and that we as assembly members can no longer work with them based on the fact that issues of gross financial malfeasance have been detected in the Assembly of which they are liable to”. He explained.
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Mr. Ametsime also noted that, the assembly is committed to instituting thorough investigations against the above mentioned principal officers by the appropriate agencies to ensure that all monies, either misapplied or misappropriated be refunded into the accounts of the Keta Municipal Assembly.
The Finance and Administration Subcommittee Chairman, Hon Gilbert Korbla Keklie presented details of some budget over-runs in 2020 by management of the assembly after his subcommittee conducted an investigation into the matter.
According to information gathered from the investigation, SandCity Radio records the budgets over-run by management below:
Expenditure Item | Budget for the year (GHC) | Actual expenditure for the year (GHC) | Amount Overrun (GHC) | Percentage Overrun (%) |
Donor Funded Project (MAG) | 50,000.00 | 105,499.98 | 55,499.98 | 110.9 |
Other travel and transportation | 10,000.00 | 68,322.00 | 58,322.00 | 583.2 |
Local Travel Cost | 24,764.00 | 57.882.00 | 33,118.00 | 113.7 |
Refreshment Items | 3,000.00 | 18,427.00 | 15,427.00 | 514.2 |
Official Celebrations | 8,000.00 | 72,000.00 | 64,700.00 | 808.8 |
Public Education | 2,500.00 | 13,574.00 | 11,074.00 | 442.96 |
Hon. Keklie, during the meeting also raised concerns by filing some questions to be answered by management on how some other monies meant for supporting Persons with Disability as well as other projects were used. Below are some extracts:
“The assembly budgeted GHC300,000.00 for persons with disability in 2020. The Administrator of the DACF released a total of GHC221,869.44 to the account of persons with disability in the year 2020. With the aforementioned figure, the persons with disability received only GHC70,000.00 from the management of the assembly as their disbursements meanwhile the management of the assembly actually spent GHC206,860.31 in 2020 where the total of GHC136,860.31 was either misapplied or misappropriated by the management of the assembly”.
Mr. Keklie added that “in February 2021, the DACF Administrator credited the account of persons with disability with a total of GHC26,093.78 where no disbursement was made to the persons with disability but the management of the assembly withdrew GHC12,500.00 from the account of the persons with disability on March 12, 2021 without any memo with action plan from the social welfare department of the assembly. As at March 31, 2021, there was a balance of GHC13, 150.34 in the account of the persons with disability”.
However, management could not give account of how and what the monies were used for.
The Development and Planning Sub-Committee Chairman, Hon Makafui Woanyah in an exclusive interview with SandCity Radio, stated that the Municipal Assembly has been inactive in terms of development.
He explained that management of the Assembly have failed to account to the general house about monies that were either misapplied or misappropriated, adding that most funds were withdrawn without due processes being followed.
“Those officers must refund the monies into the accounts of the Keta Municipality so that developmental projects can be initiated”. Mr. Woanyah reiterated.
In connection to these raging issues, the Municipal Assembly offices have been disconnected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for owing light bills.
Kekeli K. Blamey|Sandcityradioonline.com