Auditor General Report: Ghc 73,443.00 of Tempane District Assembly Fund Lockup In…..
It has emerged that over Ghc70,000 of UNICEF Support Fund for the Tempane District Assemblyis currently locked up in Papa Kwesi Nduom GN Bank. According to the report, “Management of the Tempane District Assembly opened a bank account with GN Bank with Account Number 4064111000033 for UNICEF Support fund without authority from the Controller and Accountant General Department.” “section 51 of the Public Financial Management Act 2016, Act 921 which enjoins heads of departments to obtain authority from the Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD) before opening bank accounts.” The report further says, “we however noted that the assembly continued to use this unauthorised account until the collapse of GN Bank in 2018 thereby resulting in lock of the assembly’s funds amounting to GH¢73,443.00.” However, the Auditor General further says, “We recommended to Management to pursue the recovery of the funds from the receiver of the collapsed Bank, failure of which the DCD and the Finance officers should refund the amount of GH¢73,443.00 into the assembly’s account.” Source: Apexnewsgh.com
Kassena Nankana Municipal Assembly and Bolgatanga East District Assembly denied PWD’s timely receipt of funds–A-G’s Report
To what sounds like wickedness or inhumane action against the vulnerable, with great regret, it has been revealed that those in charge in some Assemblies purposely denied Persons with Disabilities their required funds even when the fund is made available for disbursement. Apexnewsgh.com report This was captured in the 2021 Auditor’s General report. In the Upper East Region, Auditor’s General report said: “Kassena Nankana Municipal Assembly did not disburse funds to persons with disability who applied for support from the fund even though the fund had a balance of GH¢111,651.15 as at December 31, 2021. Similarly, the Bolgatanga East District Assembly delayed for about five to 22 months after the beneficiaries’ financial request before disbursing the funds to them” “As a result, Persons with Disabilities have been denied timely receipt of funds to support their activities”. However, the Auditor’s General has recommended for the Coordinating Directors and the Disability Fund Management Committees to ensure that the funds are disbursed to them without delay upon request by members to improve the well-being of Persons living with Disability. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Upper East Region E:mail: Apexnewsgh@gmail.com Contact: 0256336062
Auditor’s General Report: Tempane District Assembly lavished GHc 27, 201.00 on DCE’s Bungalow renovation
According to the 2021 Auditors General report, it has been revealed that the Tempane District Assembly made a payment of GH¢27,201.00 to a contractor in charge of the renovation of the Temapne District Chief Executive Bungalow at Kugrago, for no work done. Apexnewsgh.com report The report says, “Regulation 78 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I.2378) states, a Principal Spending Officer of a covered entity is personally responsible for ensuring in respect of each payment of that covered entity the validity, accuracy and legality of the claim for the payment”. “We noted during the projects inspection that, even though certain aspects of the bill of quantities for the renovation of the Tempane District Chief Executive’s Bungalow at Kugrago was not executed by the contractor as confirmed by the Assembly’s monitoring report, the Assembly paid the sum of GH¢168,111.30 instead of GH¢140,910.30 resulting in payment of GH¢27,201.00 for works not executed”. However, the Auditor General has recommended for the recovery of the amount paid for work not done from the contractor, failure of which the amount be recovered from the District Coordinating Director, the District Finance Officer and the Works Engineer. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/ Tempane District A-G’s Report/Upper East Region E:mail: Apexnewsgh@gmail.com Contact: 0256336062
2021 Auditor General’s Report: 146 MoH staff lavished ¢1.5m ‘unearned salaries
According to the 2021 Auditor-General’s report, some 146 staff in various institutions under the ministry of health lavished an amount of ¢1.5 million on “unearned salaries”. Apexnewsgh.com report A of the total GH¢1,080,913,824 irregularities detected by the Auditor-General includes tax irregularities, cash irregularities, indebtedness/loans/advances, payroll irregularities, stores/procurement irregularities, contract irregularities, and rent irregularities. Meanwhile, as part of the irregularities, there were unearned salaries amounting to GH¢1,501,740.00 paid lavishly to 146 officers of 47 institutions under the Ministry of Health. Below are excerpts of the report: Tax Irregularities – GH¢989,026,225.00 Tax irregularities formed 91.5 per cent of the total financial infractions reported. Included in this tax irregularity was GH¢402,804572 due from 28 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) who defaulted in paying their rescheduled debt between January 2021 to December 2021. These irregularities could be attributed mainly to failure on the part of the Ghana Revenue Authority to pursue the OMCs by applying the relevant measures and sanctions against defaulters. We recommended that the Commissioner General, GRA should strengthen its monitoring and supervision of its staff. He should also take steps to improve efficiency in their tax collections and follow up on overdue taxes while applying sanctions as prescribed by the tax laws. Cash Irregularities – GH¢45,763,607.00 Total cash irregularities noted during the period amounted to GH¢45,763,607 which represented 4.23 percent of the total irregularities. These irregularities which cut across MDAs were attributable to the underlisted infractions: Unapproved disbursements, Unpresented payment vouchers, Unaccounted revenue, Unsupported payment vouchers, Funds to bank not credited, Non-lodgement of public funds, Misapplication of funds and Unretired Imprest. Included in the total cash irregularity of GH¢45,763,607 was an amount of GH¢2,446,321.48 and USD 727.00 paid on 14 payment vouchers but were not presented for examination during the reviewed period. In the absence of the payment vouchers and supporting documents, we recommended that the Chief Director and the Head of Finance should pay back into account, the amount involved. Indebtedness/Loans/Advances – GH¢30,758,576.00 Total Indebtedness/Loans/Advances amounting to GH¢30,758,576 represented 2.8 per cent of the total irregularities. A significant amount of these irregularities was GH¢9,521,00.00 owed by 62 companies and individuals to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for the purchase of Tractors. We recommended that the Chief Director and the Director of Engineering should recover the outstanding debt from the defaulting companies and individuals with interest at the prevailing Bank of Ghana interest rate. Payroll Irregularities – GH¢5,583,498.00 Payroll irregularities amounting to GH¢5,583,498.00 was recorded during the period reviewed. Included in the total payroll irregularities was unearned salaries totalling GH¢1,501,740.00 paid to 146 officers of 47 institutions under Ministry of Health. We recommended for the recovery of the total amount by the Heads of the various Institutions to Government chest without delay. Stores/Procurement Irregularities – GH¢511,569.00 Stores and procurement irregularities noted during the period amounted to GH¢511,569.00. Included in these irregularities was GH¢108,552.00 relating to items such as laptops, mathematical sets, exercise books, and nose masks procured through the MP’s share of the GETFund from two suppliers by the Ghana Education Service, Akropong – Akuapem, which were not accounted for. The irregularity was due to the direct supply of the items to the MP’s office without available records on the items at the Municipal Education Office before distribution was carried out. We recommended that the Member of Parliament should account for the items worth GH¢108,552.00, failing which he should refund the money. Rent Irregularities – GH¢7,710,925.00 The total rent irregularity was GH¢7,710,925.00 which included: a. GH¢600,013.00 due from government workers from 13 Health Institutions who defaulted in the payment of rent and; b. US$993,600.00 due government from 48 occupants of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) flats. The irregularity was due mainly to the ineffectiveness of Management in the collection of rent from the occupants. We recommended recovery of the rent from the operatives of National Security and the other tenants, failing which they should be ejected from the flats. Contract Irregularities – GH¢1,559,424.00 The total contract irregularities of GH¢1,559,424.00 reported included an amount of GH¢1,188,816.00 which was an interest paid on delayed payments for contract certificates raised. We recommended that the Minister for Roads and Highways should investigate the cause of the interest payment and ensure that those found culpable are made to refund the interest paid.Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Auditor General/Upper East RegionE:mail: Apexnewsgh@gmail.com Contact: 0256336062
TEERE Manager shortlisted for the 2022 Cohort 4 GE’DA Digital Program
TEERE a Non-Governmental Organization based in the Upper East Region of Ghana has announced that its Manager Maxwell Banu has been shortlisted for the 2022 Cohort 4 GE’DA Digital Program. Apexnewsgh.com report A post sighted on TEERE Meta platform say, “We are happy that one of our staff has been shortlisted for the 2022 Cohort 4 GE’DA Digital Program for the next 3 months and it’s organized by Donors For Africa and Meta. Donor for Africa has the vision to provide long-lasting solutions to global challenges on the African continent. They are determined to build a better world by strengthening the capacity of mission-driven African Social Innovators to access funds, achieve ground-breaking results and build sustainable organizations. This program offers us opportunity to expand our networks while creating a local impact”. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/ TEERE/Upper East Region E:mail: Apexnewsgh@gmail.com Contact: 0256336062
Talensi: NDC Demands an Immediate Unqualified Apology from Kwabena Ampofo Appiah for…
The Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region has demanded an immediate unqualified apology from the Managing Director of State Housing Company Limited Mr. Kwabena Ampofo Appiah for what they described as a “consummate falsehood peddled to raise the image of the drowning NPP’s government led by President Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia”. Apexnewsgh.com report The statement authored by the NDC Talensi Constituency Secretary Zinekena Solomon T.T.B says: “The attention of the NDC in Talensi has been drawn to a Facebook post by the MD of the State Housing Company Ltd which suggests that there are houses available for Ghanaians at the Rock Estates located at Pusonamoogo in the Talensi District of Upper East Region of Ghana”. However, following the false and misleading information posted by the MD of the State Housing Company Ltd which does not exist anywhere in the Talensi land, the NDC is demanding an immediate unqualified apology. Kindly read the full statement Tuesday, August 30, 2022. Immediate Release. [Party Office, Talensi Constituency]. TALENSI NDC DEMANDS AN IMMEDIATE UNQUALIFIED APOLOGY FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF STATE HOUSING COMPANY LTD, MR. KWABENA AMPOFO APPIAH . The attention of the NDC in Talensi has been drawn to a Facebook post by the MD of the State Housing Company Ltd which suggests that there are houses available for Ghanaians at the Rock Estates located at Pusonamoogo in the Talensi District of Upper East Region of Ghana. Ghanaians must be apprised here and now that the MD’s claim is a consummate falsehood peddled to raise the image of the drowning NPP’s government led by President Nana Addo and Alhaji Timothy Bawumia. To set the records straight forward without equivocation, the facts are as follow: On Friday, November 29, 2019, President Nana Addo cut sod for the construction of 120 housing units at Pusunamogo in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region. On Tuesday, 18th August, 2020, the Vice President Alhaji Bawumia in a town hall meeting at the Academy of Art and Sciences in Accra emphatically captured the 120 housing units project in page 40 as ongoing and that work was 20 per cent complete. At the time the Vice President made that claim using his 419 powerful delivery tracker, there was only a well-designed signpost erected on the site along the Bolga-Tamale Road. According to the Vice President in 2020, 50 housing units were supposed to be completed before the 2020 general elections. It is almost three years today and only two uncompleted housing units are found at the site. Work has stalled at the site for months now. The site is left bushy and muddy. The following questions are begging for immediate answers from the uninformed, clueless and armchair MD; How did the MD come to the conclusion that the housing units were ready for use and that people looking for homes in the Upper East Region should look no further but contact one Mabila via telephone on +233244271502 ? Does the MD and his team do routine monitoring and supervision of their projects? How many housing units are completed? Is portable drinking water provided at the site? Is the site connected to electricity? Have they created access roads? Is the MD and his appointor living in such homes? Are the completed houses in the Jupiter or the Earth we all live on? In fact, it appears the Vice President has succeeded in infecting most appointees of the NPP government with his chronic lies. The usual peddling of falsehoods by the rank and file of NPP seems to be a malignant cancerous tumour that is resistant to treatment. As much as Ghanaians and the NDC try to treat them by exposing their naked lies, the more they continue to lie. Probably, the MD was celebrating the two years lying anniversary of Bawumia on that same project. If not, he is caught flat-footed and pants down having thrown iron fillings into the eyes of the good people of Talensi and Ghana at large on the completion of the Project. What is the crime of the good people of Talensi to have warranted this naked deception from the appointee of President Nana Addo? This fraud exposes the gross ineptitude, corporate incompetence and lack of credibility of the MD. The posture of the MD simply means that he is either not on top of his job or is a deliberate attempt to deceive, mislead, misinform and mock Ghanaians under the excruciating economic conditions experienced by most ordinary Ghanaians especially the youth where payment of rents has been a challenge though on 26th October, 2020, Ghanaian youth were promised to have their rents paid by the NPP government in the second term. It, however, beats our imagination that an MD who draws monthly salaries with huge allowances from the public purse of the ordinary taxpayer would lower the bar of management and corporate leadership to such a bizarre extent. He is busily dancing in the gutters alone. We may be tempted to believe that he is only carrying a big head punishing his neck because there is no absolute reflection of his academic qualifications and leadership in the development of the company. The NDC would like to dare the MD to come out with contrary facts relative to the Rock Estates Housing project situated at Pusonamogo. We also want to challenge him (the MD) to publish the true pictures of the housing units completed, the outside and inside of the houses and an aerial photograph of the project. The NDC is keenly monitoring the falsehoods the MD has been peddling on various platforms seeking to take undue credit of the numerous projects initiated and funded by the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama led NDC government in the housing sector. Well! The performing masquerade that tries too hard to outclass his colleagues will end up by exposing his anus. Critically examining the posture of the MD, one thing is certain and conspicuous that, the Nana Addo government