…Changes office key, furniture without his knowledge
Posted: The Chronicle |Wednesday, February 24, 2010
By Charles Takyi - Boadu
A former minister for Water Resources Works and Housing, Albert Abongo, was subjected to embarrassment yesterday, by no other person that his own deputy, Dr. Hana Bissiw.
Bisssiw reportedly led carpenters to change the keys to the office of the minister, whilst he was away, without informing him of what she had done.
Credible information gathered by The Chronicle indicates that Mr. Abongo left Accra to his hometown to bury one of his brothers last Friday. But when he returned to the office yesterday, to officially handover to the new Minister, Alban Bagbin, the keys to his office, and the furniture had been changed without his knowledge.
The development reportedly surprised Mr. Abongo, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bongo constituency, since he could not fathom why his deputy could issue directives for the lock and furniture in his office to be changed without his consent.
Mr. Abongo refused to confirm or deny the story, but sources at the ministry narrated that he was on his way to Accra from his brother’s funeral on Monday, when he received a call from one of his office staff, that his deputy had brought some gentlemen to inspect the office, and later gone ahead to change the lock.
When Mr. Abongo finally went to the office yesterday to hand over, he was said to have raised the issue in the presence of the new Minister, Alban Bagbin, and the Chief Director, Alhaji Ziblim.
He reportedly told the new minister and his deputy how he felt insulted by the incident.
Sources close to the Ministry have hinted The Chronicle that relations between Mr. Abongo and Dr. Hannah Bissiw have not been the best for sometime now, because of the latter’s delight in doing things and taking decisions without the former’s consent, even when he was the substantive Minister.
This is believed to have been the reason behind Hannah Bissiw’s decision to change the office lock and furniture without Abongo’s consent, even though he had not handed over officially.
When this reporter called the deputy Minister for her comments, a lady with a perky voice, who identified herself as Joyce, and claimed to be her Secretary, answered the phone.
She claimed Dr. Bissiw was in a meeting, and that she had asked her to take whatever information for her, and that she would get back to this reporter after the meeting.
She took this reporter’s cell phone number, with the explanation of getting the deputy Minister to call him immediately after the meeting. Meanwhile, Dr. Bissiw failed to turn up at a programme at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), where she was billed as one of the special guests.
Several hours later, this reporter made frantic efforts to get the deputy Minister’s input into the story, but she would not answer her phone.