A-G uncovers rot in School Feeding Programme

…Accountant ordered to refund money

Posted: The Chronicle Thursday, April 30, 2009

ByCharles Takyi-Boadu
The Auditor General has uncovered what appears to be massive financial malpractices at the School Feeding programme, following the forensic audit it conducted into its operations. A final report signed by Mr. Augustine R. K. Boadu, the Deputy acting Auditor General (AG), on behalf of the AG, a copy of which has been intercepted by The Chronicle has implicated certain individuals at the Secretariat, including the Senior Accountant, one Ebenezer Kwesi Donkor for his negligence and poor record keeping which has resulted in the loss of huge sums of money to the state. The report, which is dated April 23, 2009, covered the period of April 1, 2006, to December 31, 2007.
The Senior Accountant, according to the report, could not provide for audit, payment vouchers covering GH ¢18, 094.08 (¢180.9 million) to support entries in the cash book due to weak management control and security over vital official documents. The Accountant only managed to present receipts totalling GH ¢10,585.53 (105,845,279.00), leaving a balance of GH ¢9,598.67 (¢95,986,721.00) which is yet to be accounted for. Mr. Kwesi Donkor, however, told the auditors that the head office operated a standing imprest of GH ¢500.00. Out of this amount, he said the Executive Chairman handled GH ¢400.00 while he administered the remaining GH ¢100.00.
The Senior Accountant added that the unaccounted for balance of GH ¢9,598.67 included an amount of GH ¢1,800.00 which was sent to the regions to enable the Monitoring Officers meet petty expenses.
Though he claimed he could provide documents for payment vouchers covering transactions totalling GH ¢18,094.08 (180.94 million) to support entries in the cash book, the Senior Accountant, Mr Kwesi Donkor could also not provide any such document for audit. In the absence of the disbursement records to support transactions, the auditors recommended that the Senior Accountant should immediately refund the amount of GH ¢18,094.08 to chest.
On his part, the Executive Chairman explained to the auditors that he used the imprest on protocol, press conferences, entertainment of foreign guests, fuel, transportation, etc., and provided the team with receipts to back his claims. However, the auditors recommended that Management should investigate the matter and ensure immediate accountability of the amount of GH ¢9,598.67.
During the period under review, the report noted “the National Secretariat of the GSFP withheld 5% of taxes totalling GH ¢117, 177.36 or GH ¢1.17 billion from payments to suppliers and failed to remit the amount collected to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service as required by Section 87 (1) of Act 592.
Management however attributed the delay in remitting the tax collections to the IRS to the late release of funds from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and pressure from suppliers to be paid for goods supplied, urging management to “immediately remit the GH ¢177, 177.36 to the Commissioner of IRS and strictly adhere to the tax laws in future.
At the same time, payment vouchers covering GH ¢151,016.02 (¢1.51 billion) worth of goods and services contracted did not have documents supporting the transactions and, therefore, asked that the Senior Accountant produces the documents for subsequent review to avoid being surcharged.
It was also detected that management paid Messrs. Afrique Link limited GH ¢203, 303.75 for the supply of 10, 770 trays of tomato paste.
Though the amount included a VAT component of GH ¢23.424.75, the report indicated that management did not ensure that company accounted to the VAT Secretariat for the VAT amount collected. It therefore recommended that management follow up for the official VAT receipt from Afrique Link limited, whilst an imprest amounting to GH ¢20, 183.20 was not adequately accounted for, blaming the Senior Accountant of the Secretariat for not keeping an imprest cash book to transactions, neither was there a storekeeper to take charge of purchases made.
The object of the audit was to ascertain whether funds released and Store items received by the Secretariat were properly accounted for in the programme’s books of account and standard accounting and administrative procedures were followed in running the affairs.
It was also to ascertain whether internal and monitoring controls were effectively working at the Secretariat and whether its assets were in its name, secured and safeguarded.
This followed an earlier report commissioned by Messrs. Price Waterhouse Coopers in 2006 which raised questions of underhand dealings in the already-struggling School Feeding Programme.
The findings of that report smacked of fear of insecurity since it revealed acts of corruption, inappropriate award of contracts, forged signatures, inflated school enrolment figures and maladministration.
In the course of its investigations, the auditors evaluated the adequacy and effectiveness of internal control, management, procurement, payroll and programme activity as well as stores and inventory management.
It was, however, realized that for the 43 months (October 2004 to April 2008) that Dr. Amoako Tuffuor worked as head of the GSFP, he was not paid any salary, even though the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment fixed his salary at GH ¢3,834.00 per month, as was indicated in a letter dated.
It was came to light that the former Executive Secretary was advanced GH ¢1,000.00 every month, pending payment of his salary.
It will be recalled that on April 2, 2008, the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) went to town with the findings of the said report, describing its content as amounting to wanton corruption and stealing. The CJA’s concern was that funds amounting to ¢363,549, 000 that the Secretariat of the programme claimed to have transferred to ten districts were not received by those districts.
According to the pressure group, the extent of corruption, maladministration, nepotism and patronage was so excessive that the programme has not only become a complete shamble, but also part of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) project for the massive looting of the nation’s coffers. In order to save the programme from total collapse, the Committee called for the dismissal of Dr. Kwame Amoako Tuffuor.
It also asked government to set up an independent investigation public enquiry to investigate the activities and operations of the programme. In effect, the CJA said all those who are known to have committed fraud or other criminal offences should be prosecuted. This latest report, however, appears to have exonerated Dr. Amoako Tuffuor, as no specific adverse findings were made against him.

Bungling officialdom

``CARS WEREN`T IN MY DEEP FREEZER``

... Asmah, Asamoah, Aggrey, Jumah snort at Mills` boy`s threat

Posted: The Chronicle Wednesday, April 29, 2009

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) yesterday trotted out their 28year old Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzato to rub it in, but returned to base with a lot of eggs in his face, hours after the Deputy Minister issued a directive asking members of the Kufuor administration who had already paid for their cars to bring them to be revalued. The arrogance with which he spoke on the subject matter at a press conference yesterday, describing some of the former Ministers as gangsters and criminals, was what angered some of them to come out with threatening statements. Speaking on Joy FM yesterday, Former Minister of Fisheries, Mrs. Gladys Asmah could not comprehend why the NDC government was so much enthused with issues concerning vehicles, especially when there are serious matters confronting the nation. Speaking on Joy FM, she said some government officials came to her house, and accused her of having five cars belonging to the state, which they had come to pick. She described them funny, since according to her, she had documents covering all her personal cars. Mrs. Asmah wondered where the security operatives got their information from, saying “I asked, where are the cars? have I parked them in my deep freezers”, she questioned cheekily tressing that she does not have any government or state vehicle in her possession. The former Minister said the only cars she had in her possession were two, one from Parliament and another she bought on credit. She thus indicated her preparedness to see her lawyers to institute legal action against the government. Special Aide to former Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Mr.Yaw Buabeng Asamoah on his part dared anybody to attempt to take his car away from him. He threatened to shoot anybody who comes to seize the car he currently drives, which he said was for his father, saying “if somebody shows up and says it belongs to the state, I’ll shoot him.” “I have returned my car, the receipt is dated the 13th of January, 2009, I have a receipt for it, I sent a covering letter to the Chief Director at the Castle, saying the car has been returned and my driver sent and parked it there”, he said. He further noted that he has no state vehicle in his possession, neither does he reside in a state property. Though he was offered the opportunity to buy the car, he refused, knowing very well what could happen in the future. Whilst he admitted that governance cannot be conducted on propaganda lines, he noted that what the Deputy Minister said about him was a blatant lie, which is a continuation of what he described as the propaganda that has characterized the activities of the Mills administration for sometime now. The no-nonsense Member of Parliament for Asokwa and former Deputy Minister of Local Government, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, also told Joy FM that he was offered the opportunity to buy the vehicle in his possession and he appropriately paid for. “If they want to come and use the coercive powers of state to take over the car, I don’t have an army and I don’t have a police, but I have a court”, he said, threatening “I will take the Professor of law to court and teach him basic contract law, as simple as that.” He continued “if you are civilized and you have entered into a proper contract with a state Institution, you go to court.” Former Communications Minister, Aggrey Ntim expressed extreme surprise at the turn of events, but indicated his preparedness to return the car, if they so demand. He has accordingly written to the government and will soon take the car back to reclaim his money.

Manifesto war

NDC REBUFFS NPP's CLAIMS

Posted: The Chronicle Thursday, April 30, 2009

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has denied either doctoring or altering the content of the party’s manifesto to sway Ghanaians from the commitments and promises made on and before 2008 general elections, which brought them to power.
The party says it has no intention to do such a thing and, therefore, rubbished claims by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), which sought to suggest that the party and NDC government was out there to deceive Ghanaians.
In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the party, Daniel Anang said there was no iota of truth in the claims being made by the NPP and, therefore, urged Ghanaians to treat it with the contempt that it deserves.”I can assure you that we haven’t changed any part of our manifesto”, he said.
He noted that just after the party outdoored its manifesto, somebody tried to make money out of it by producing an abridged version of the document, which contained the highlights of the main manifesto, to sell to people.
He noted that this was done without the due consent and approval of the party and it could not be described as the original document which still remains unchanged. He said “even I didn’t bother buying one, because people called and told me about the existence of an abridged form of the manifesto …and that is when I realized that somebody was making money out of our manifesto.”
To him, the NPP is only trying to do politics with the issue, since according to him, their claims have no merit.
Mr. Anang also questioned the moral right of the NPP as a party to question President Mills and his NDC government’s 100 days in office. Whilst he agrees that the President has not been able to achieve all the targets set, the Regional Chairman said they managed to reduce fuel prices among others.
“We are not chasing into the church rooms, we are not making a lot of noise, you know, we are not asking people to proceed on leave, we haven’t started putting people before the court, so we are not making a lot of noise”, he said.
To him, that is how the NPP sees the NDC. He stressed that “in their first hundred days, they used it to harass their opponents, so they were always in the news, they said NDC is corrupt, NDC is this and that is what they did in the first hundred days, you should tell me exactly what they did in their first hundred days that we are not doing today”.
He emphasised that they NDC as a party and government in power will not in anyway be swayed by the disturbances and detractions of the NPP, saying “we will not go the NPP way, that is why in our first hundred days, we haven’t done anything of the sort, but as our President continues to say, the law should take its course.”