The National Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr Moses Dani Baah and the party’s 2020 flag bearer, Mr David Apasera, have been accused by their General Secretary Janet Nabla of misappropriating party funds to the tune of GHS1.7 million.
According to Mrs Nabla, the two politicians dip their hands into the party’s coffers nilly-willy without recourse to her despite being the “CEO” of the party, as well as a signatory to the account.
Apart from the GHS1.7 million, she claimed Mr Apasera recently took an undisclosed amount of money from sympathisers of the PNC meant for the party’s National Executive Committee meeting without informing or rendering account for it.
Also, she claimed the two politicians have been using party funds to reimburse themselves for allegedly pre-financing party activities with their private funds.
Mrs Nabla wondered if Mr Apasera and Mr Dani Baah are sidelining her on gender grounds.
“Is it because I’m a woman?” she wondered in an interview with ClassFMonline.com.
She made the counter-allegations after the two politicians accused her of taking some GHS30,000 belonging to the PNC from the Electoral Commission and using it on their blindside.
Mrs Nabla, however, explained that she used the GHS30,000 to pay rent for the PNC’s 16 regional officers.
Out of that money, she said Mr Apasera took almost a half of it to pay the rent of the party’s national headquarters in Accra.
The other 15 regions, she added, got just about GHS1,000 apiece to cater for their rent.
“I didn’t pay the GHS30,000 into the national account because anytime money goes into that account, the two dip their hands into it and use it anyhow”, she explained.
Reacting to the allegations, however, Mr Apasera, who denied all the claims, explained to ClassFMonline.com that in the lead-up to the 2020 polls, the party first raised GHS500,000 out of which each of the PNC’s 39 parliamentary candidates got GHS10,000 to file their nomination. The flag bearer also used GHS100,000 to file his nomination, bringing the total amount to GHS490,000.
“She was there” when the money was being used for those purposes, Mr Apasera said.
He further noted that the party raised another GHS500,000 and used it to bankroll other campaign activities such as the drafting and launching a manifesto; printing posters and T-shirts; resourcing the parliamentary candidates to move around, campaigning in the northern parts of the country, renting two SUVs and a pickup and paying the hotel bills of the campaign team.
Of that same second tranche, “we decided to give a total of GHS10,000” to each of the 39 parliamentary candidates, which comprised of GHS2,000 in cash, 2,000 posters and 200 T-shirts.
The expenditure, according to Mr Apasera, wad done “in the full glare of everyone”, adding: “There has never been any time that myself and Moses have decided on expenditure without telling them”.
He continued that the party “finally raised GHS700,000 at the last moment and everybody had a budget” including the General Secretary and “she was given what she came for and then we made sure every parliamentary candidate was given GHS5,000, every region was given GHS3,000 for monitoring and then I was to go out to campaign”.
“Moses Dani Baah was to go back to Tumu and help the candidate”, he added.
According to the 2020 flag bearer, “it is only in our time that some of the parliamentary candidates got up to GHS100,000 each. The candidates we thought that would win, because our mind was to make sure that we are present in parliament”, so, “the candidates we thought would win, some of them got up to GHS100,000 or above and we had to rent a car to even supplement the candidate in Tumu to be able to run”.
“Ask her. She has been in the party and she was calling the shots in the past”, Mr Apasera dared.
“She’s making all these funny allegations. Where is that money that I dipped my hands into?” he asked.
He said “even at the last NEC meeting, I set up a committee to investigate all the allegations and I told them at that meeting that if they investigate and I have spent a dime of the party’s money, I will resign. I am a politician of character”, he noted.
“And, so, when somebody comes out knowing nothing except backbiting and trying to destroy and trying to control and makes stupid allegations. So, at the last congress, we set up a committee of three and I told them they should investigate and come out and tell me who has chopped party money and if what she’s saying is a lie, the party will sanction her because you can’t wake up from within the party and try to create unnecessary stories just because you don’t like someone”, he noted.
