Tuesday, September 30, 2014

KRACHIWURA GRILLED AT JUDGEMENT DEBT COMMISSION

Krachiwura Nana Mprah Besemuna III (right) with his lawyer Kwame Yankyera
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
The Krachiwura, Nana Mprah Besemuna III, was yesterday subjected to a barrage of questions by the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts.
Records before Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau of the Court of Appeal indicated that the retired Commissioner of Police, who represented his elder brother, Nana Asetena Mensah, aka B.K. Mensah, played a vital role in the Volta Basin compensation claims following the construction of the Akosombo Hydro Electric Dam.
Protest
However, he protested before the commission that it was wrong for anybody to assume that the process for compensation that led to the collection of huge sums of money from the government, started only recently.
Cabinet Approval
Cabinet, in July 2008, approved a consolidated amount of compensation totalling GH¢138 million for various stools/families in Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas. An estimated 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.
Records at the commission revealed that GH¢71 million has been paid so far to the various claimants and the disbursement of the remaining GH¢67 million has been put on hold to enable the government deal with discrepancies in the payments.
Some of the witnesses who appeared before the commission have been tendering in evidence site plans that did not have dates but had purportedly been used to claim the money from the Lands Commission.
Some of the documents also bore the names of individual claimants; but the witnesses have claimed they were making the claims on behalf of families or clans.
Apau Shocked
Justice Apau has variously expressed shock at how the Lands Commission could have proceeded to order the release of the various amounts of money to the claimants based on the documents the witnesses are tendering before the commission.
Furthermore, he did not understand why communities that were resettled by the government in the 1960s, given communal lands and paid compensation for crops destroyed by the Volta River floods could turn around to claim compensation almost 50 years down the line.
Asetena Mensah Factor
All the witnesses have been telling the commission that one Nana Asetena Mensah, a leader in the communities in Krachi, was the one who had commissioned Kwadwo Ababio & Co, a consultant and surveyors, to survey the submerged area out of which the individual plotting were done.
The commission has made it clear that Nana Asetena Mensah never came forward to make any claims. Rather, he delegated the Krachiwura, who he said had no stake in the lands, to lead the chase for the compensation.
Krachiwura’s Testimony
Nana Besemuna III told the commission that as the paramount chief of the Krachi Traditional Area, he had the authority of the Kantankofore family, led by Nana Asetena Mensah who was once an MP of the area, to put in the claims.
He said he collected a total of GH¢1,441,352.20 in five tranches—representing about 27,000 acres—for Kantankofore and added that Nana Asetena Mensah passed on at age 96 when he was preparing to also appear before the commission.
1974/75 claims
He said the claims for compensation for families in the Volta Basin flooded areas was spearheaded by Nana Asetena Mensah around 1974/75 when he commissioned a survey of the whole submerged area.
Subsequently, Lands Department in 1978 acknowledged his letter for compensation for 952,900.20 acres that was being claimed by all the families.
He said it was later that one Nana Ofosu Yiadom from the Pai Traditional Area also mobilised his people to claim compensation and used Kwadwo Abban & Co as the consultant and surveyors.
Conjuring Acreages
The Krachiwura admitted before the packed commission that the acreages of claimants overlapped, saying, “it was difficult getting governments upon governments to accept the fact that our people deserved compensation and when one government finally decided to pay compensation we were adjusting lands so that there will be peace in the area.”
He said the issue of Volta River Reimbursable Fund which had been set up for the area was the subject matter of a pending court action and could not give further details.
Pai Katanga
The Paramount Chief of Pai Kantanga, Nana Diawuo Bediako II, aka Stephen Attah Kwasi Akowuah, also testified on the Pai Development Fund he set up which he said was also the subject matter of a pending court action.
He said apart from the first tranche of GH¢63,159, all subsequent payments were lodged in court due to the litigation, saying, “what has been paid before the court is around GH¢1, 266,494.65.”
He said he started pursuing the claim at a time when he was not even the chief, adding that the Paiman Development Fund came in the 1970s.



Friday, September 26, 2014

MARTIN AMIDU STRIKES BETTY OVER $5.5M PAYMENT

Posted on: ww.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Friday, September 26, 2014

Former Attorney General Martin A.K. Amidu wants Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau to determine whether it was lawful for his predecessor Betty Mould Iddrisu to decide a settlement with Yakubu Kasule, owner of Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited in a case against the government.

Mr. Amidu’s relentless effort to fight corruption in a government in which he is a leading member has endeared the hearts of Ghanaians and has even earned him the accolade ‘Citizen Vigilante’.

Mr. Amidu is insisting that it was irregular for an Attorney-General to enter into terms of settlement with Yakubu Kasule and his company when all the cases involved were not consolidated before the action.

Terms of Settlement
The terms of settlement cited by Daily Guide had been signed by Yakubu Kasule and endorsed by his solicitors Fosu-Gyeabuor & Co as well as then Deputy Attorney-General Ebo Barton-Odro on October 29, 2010.

Under the settlement the government paid “$5million in full and final settlement of all legal fees and cost,” as well as “GH¢1 in full and final settlement of all legal fees and cost.”

Documents at the commission showed that there were four cases involved. They included Yakubu Kasule and of Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited versus Theophilus Cudjoe, Serious Fraud Office and the Attorney General, Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited versus Attorney General, The Attorney General versus Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited as well as Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited and Yakubu Kasule versus Kolon (UK) Limited and the Attorney General.

According to the commission, the cases were pending in court when the AG decided to strike a settlement between the government and Yakubu Kasule in 2010.

Dometi Kofi Sorkpor, counsel for the commission said “Mr. Amidu’s issue was that so long as there were separate cases and had not been consolidated the AG had no business striking a settlement collectively with Kasule,” adding “in law, if anything at all, there should have been consolidation before the settlement but that was not done.”

“When there is terms of settlement between two parties, in law the terms would have to be filed and the court would pronounce judgement upon the terms as if there was a full trial as the case having been concluded,” adding that “before the petition was filed Mr. Amidu had been talking about this issue. He wants the commission to examine the facts surrounding the matter and determine whether it was properly done or not.”

AG’s Department
 Acting Solicitor-General Helen Akpene Awo Ziwu told the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts yesterday that she was yet to see anything of that sort in the records when Justice Apau enquired whether the terms of settlement was entered as a consent judgement.

She admitted the existence of the case but told the commission that they were yet to track all the documents involved even though she was able to tendered in evidence the terms of settlement, some memos as well as criminal appeal that the state filed against Yakubu Kasule.

Mrs Ziwu flanked by Chief State Attorney William Kpobi told the commission that there was a court stamp on the terms of settlement and that was an indication that the document was filed but was not certain if it was enforced subsequently.









BNI RAIDS CHRAJ

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Friday, September 26, 2014

The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) is reported to have stormed the offices of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and picked up the Head of Treasury of the commission Sonny Eric Adinyira.

Mr. Adinyira who is on secondment from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department is said to be interrogated by the national security outfit over financial malfeasance going on at the commission.

CHRAJ is currently embroiled in financial scandal over the reckless spending by the Commissioner, Lauretta Vivian Lamptey over official accommodation.

A source told DAILY GUIDE that the BNI investigation was triggered by recent media reports accusing the Commissioner of the human rights body Justice Lauretta Lamptey of extravagant and reckless dissipation of public funds on accommodation running into over $200,000.

Since news broke, the Auditor General is said to have launched an audit into the finances of the CHRAJ, particularly on the accommodation of the commissioner and the move has been endorsed by the government.

A statement from the Ministry of Communications endorsed the Auditor General’s decision to investigate the use of public funds by CHRAJ on rent, hotel accommodation and an extensive renovation of the official residence of the Commissioner.

The government’s statement said it expected the Auditor-General to complete its audit within the shortest possible time and cautioned heads of the various Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and heads of institutions that rely on public funds that they will be held accountable for any misapplication and inappropriate use of public funds, as well as any infringements of the Financial Administration Rules.

Pressure continues to mount on Justice Lamptey to resign following accusation of extravagant expenditure of the taxpayers money.

She became the latest head of a state institution to be embroiled in allegation of wanton misapplication of state resources at a time when the human rights body is clearly starved of funding.
The Commissioner currently stays at the Best Western Hotel where the taxpayer is billed $450 daily on her behalf on accommodation.

She has four cars together with a driver and police protection at her disposal and the cars are always parked at the hotel’s premises.

Interestingly, the hotel is situated some metres from the commissioner’s officially-designated residence at the Airport Residential Area, Accra which is currently under refurbishment on her orders at a huge cost to CHRAJ.
Before lodging at the hotel, Ms Lamptey resided at the plush African Union (AU) Village at Cantonments, Accra at the cost of $148,500 in rent for 33 months from November 2011 to April 2014.

Efforts by the contractor from PWD Prestige to complete what is believed to be minor refurbishment of her official residence has been frustrated by the Commissioner’s high sense of taste and as a result, the contractor abandoned the project because the funds had been exhausted.

Justice Lamptey has maintained that it is the duty of the state to house her saying “the state has an obligation to house me whether I’m a native of Accra or…anywhere else. The job structure involves being housed; the compensation is based on ‘we are providing these things for you.”

Various bodies and opinion leaders have insisted that her continuous stay in office has become untenable and have called for her removal.

Minority Leader
The Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, is backing calls for the resignation of Ms Lamptey saying, that “she should have exercised better judgement than she has done.”

“That conduct amounts to gross indiscretion on her part. I thought that she should have exercised better judgement than what she has done. The amount involved…is a clear case of misapplication of public resources and it ought not to have happened how it happened,” he said.

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told Citi Fm there was no justification for the CHRAJ boss to remain at post.

The Minority Leader argued that “the position that she herself is occupying is so unique. CHRAJ themselves have developed a code of conduct document for public office holders…so if you flout it to such an extent, it becomes indefensible.”

The Member of Parliament for Nsawam/ Adoagyiri Constituency, Frank Annoh-Dompreh who is on the house’s Special Budget Committee, has already begun an official process to have her impeached by sending a petition to the Presidency.

Progressive Nationalist Forum (PNF), a political pressure group that has been sending petitions to the commission without any action also want the beleaguered Justice Lamptey to resign immediately or face them in court.

Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), a political pressure group, has also waded into the matter and has asked the President to fire the CHRAJ Boss without delay or they will hit the streets.


Thursday, September 25, 2014

I TOOK GH¢530,896.77 - CHIEF

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Thursday, September 25, 2014
The Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts yesterday heard how without a power-of-attorney, a chief received compensation of GH¢530,896.77 in the Volta Basin Flooded Area scheme.
However, Nana Kwasi Osamakwe II of Tokuroano Atafie which is the Adonten Division of Krachi Traditional Area insisted that his family elders had asked him to chase the compensation for their lands submerged following the construction of the Akosombo Dam.

Assisted by his counsel, Kwame Yankyera, the witness said he started to process for compensation around 1975 as chief of Atafie and admitted that at some point the documents were missing so he had to prepare new ones to be able to claim the amount.

“I became a chief in 1971 and in 1976 we took some compensation for our settled lands but we did not receive any compensation for the submerged area,” he testified.

He said the GH¢530,896.77 received was in respect of 10,000 acres and admitted that they also ceded lands for other towns to facilitate their claims and that arrangement had been done through Kwadwo Abba & Co who were the consultant surveyors.

Odumasi Krobo
Earlier, Enock Akwasabi Gbertey of Odumasi Krobo flanked by his counsel Christian Teye Azu who collected GH¢859,373.90 as compensation for 1,116 acres said the land belonged to his father and hea had initiated the process in 1999.

However, Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau said an MoU tendered in evidence by the witness showed clearly that Mr. Gbertey was to pursue the claim on behalf of settler farmers and when successful, should have shared the amount equally but the witness insisted the land belonged to his father.

The witness said he ceded some of the land to the people of Apaso in order to get his claim approved and said he was paid in one tranche.

Cabinet approval
Cabinet, in July 2008, approved a consolidated amount of compensation totaling GH¢138 million for various stools/families in Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas and about 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.

Records at the commission revealed that GH¢71 million has been paid so far to the various claimants and the disbursement of the remaining GH¢67million has been put on hold to enable the government deal with discrepancies in the payments.

Some of the witnesses who appeared before the commission have been tendering in evidence site plans that did not have dates but had purportedly used the same documents to claim the money from the Lands Commission.

Some of the documents also bore the names of individual claimants but the witnesses have claimed they were making the claims on behalf of families or clans.

Apau shocked
Justice Apau has variously expressed shock at how the Lands Commission could have proceeded to order the release of the various amount of money to the claimants based on the documents the witnesses are tendering before the commission.

Furthermore, he did not understand why communities that were resettled by the government in the 1960s, given communal lands and paid compensation for crops destroyed by the Volta River floods could turn around to claim compensation almost 50 years down the line.

Asetena Mensah factor
All the witnesses have been telling the commission that one Nana B.K. Asetena Mensah, a leader in the communities in Krachi, was the one who had commissioned Kwadwo Ababio & Co, a consultant and surveyors to survey the submerged area out of which the individual plotting were done.

The commission has made it clear that Nana Asetena Mensah never came forward to make any claims. Rather, he delegated the Krachiwura who he said had no stake in the lands, to lead the chase for the compensation.

Abor SHS
In a related development, the commission has received a petition for compensation from a family believed to have donated their land towards the expansion of Abor Senior High School in the Keta District of the Volta Region.
Nancy Akua Osei, Headmistress of the school told the commission that she saw an anonymous petition on her desk but when the school’s board met the family, the faction that sent the petitioned had failed to attend the meeting.

She said the faction that attended the meeting told them that the land had been donated to the government and the claimant could not turn around claim compensation.

Sylvester Edah Tornyeavah, the MCE of Keta also testified in the matter and said he heard the issue for the first time from the Deputy Volta Regional Minister.

He said he searched the regional Lands Commission but never found any document covering the Abor lands.

Interestingly, the petitioner had appealed to the Presidency, Attorney-General as well as Ministry of Finance for compensation and Justice Apau said “the responses from the Presidency and the ministries strengthen the petitioners to pursue the claim.”


Wednesday, September 24, 2014

VOLTA CLAIMANTS BLOATED ACREAGES - APAU

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Justice Yaw Apau, the Sole-Commissioner Justice investigating the payment of judgement debts has said some of the claimants in the Volta Basin Flooded Area ‘conjured’ acreages to seek payment for compensation.
“It is not that most of the claimants were entitled to particular acreages. They ceded the lands based on resolutions they passed and that is how come you have these haphazard claims for compensation,” he said at the commission’s daily sittings yesterday.
Cabinet approval
Cabinet, in July 2008, approved a consolidated amount of compensation totaling GH¢138 million for various stools/families in Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas and about 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.

Records at the commission revealed that GH¢71 million has been paid so far to the various claimants and the disbursement of the remaining GH¢67million has been put on hold to enable the government deal with discrepancies in the payments.

Some of the witnesses who appeared before the commission have been tendering in evidence site plans that did not have dates but had purportedly used the same documents to claim the money from the Lands Commission.

Some of the documents also bore the names of individual claimants but the witnesses have claimed they were making the claims on behalf of families or clans.

Apau shocked
Justice Apau has variously expressed shock at how the Lands Commission could have proceeded to order the release of the various amount of money to the claimants based on the documents the witnesses are tendering before the commission.

Furthermore, he did not understand why communities that were resettled by the government in the 1960s, given communal lands and paid compensation for crops destroyed by the Volta River floods could turn around to claim compensation almost 50 years down the line.

Asetena Mensah factor
All the witnesses have been telling the commission that one Nana B.K. Asetena Mensah, a leader in the communities in Krachi, was the one who had commissioned Kwadwo Ababio & Co, a consultant and surveyors to survey the submerged area out of which the individual plotting were done.

The commission has made it clear that Nana Asetena Mensah never came forward to make any claims. Rather, he delegated the Krachiwura who he said had no stake in the lands, to lead the chase for the compensation.

Ahenkro
Nana Kafra, who claims to be Chief of Ahenkro in the Pai Katanga paramouncy admitted that he collected an amount of GH¢89,183.00 in five tranches for 1,600 acres for his people but could not tender in evidence any site plan or a power-of-attorney mandating him to make the claim.

He claimed he gave the documents to a lawyer for litigation with the people of Motodua following a boundary dispute but he never got them back and also admitted that they also gave their documents to Kwadwo Abban & Co who were the surveyors in 2007 to process the claim.

The witness also admitted they were settled by the VRA following the construction of the Akosombo Dam.

Apaaso
Nana Ampong Adjei II, a chief of Apaaso who said they settled at Mpanmu in the Kwahu South District told the commission that before the flooding of the basin, they lived in Pai Apaaso and they were settled along side three other communities on a 4500 acre land.

He said he received GH¢1.161,547.54 which appeared on the commission’s record as GH¢1,036,379.54  and added that the initial payment of 125168 had passed through the Krachiwura.

When he tendered in evidence the site plan used in claiming compensation, Justice Apau said the plan was in the name of one Benjamin Boateng but the witness said “I was subsequently made a chief and I was asked to pursue it.”

He could also not produce any power-of-attorney authorizing him to make the claims.

Banda Bonwesi & Grubi
Nana Omane Kuminte who claims to be a chief of Banda Bonwesi made two claims on behalf of his town and Banda Grubi who according to the commission were not even on the list of communities to be paid compensation.

He said he collected GH¢34,573.44 in five tranches for 656 acres on behalf of Banda Bonwesi and GH¢100,156.20 (although the commission’s records showed he received GH¢68,177.62) for 1886.42 acres for Banda Grubi.

He also said he was selected by the families to chase the compensation but could not produce a power-of-attorney and said they started pursuing their claim in 1992 until Nana Asetena Mensah came in.

Ntoabuoma
Opanin Kwabena Antwi of Ntoabuoma known in private as Col. Rtd. Alex Antwi also testified that he collected a whooping GH¢4,087,418.21 for 77,000 acres on behalf of Nana Akom Boahen of Akroso for the community and was able to produce a power-of-attorney for it.

Akaniem
Nana Kwame Collector, represented by Kwame Danso an Educationist due to ill health also testified and said that they had filed for 3,326 acres and were paid GH¢158,319.04 as compensation but the commission’s record showed that they received GH¢159,319.04.

Justice Apau made it clear that the claimant was not part of the initial application process.

Beposo
Ismael Wilson who claims to work for a consortium in Accra appeared not to be conversant with the claims including the acreage but was able to collect GH¢621,828.13 which he said belonged to Beposo.

Adjade
Nana Kwabena Akuamoah II, Paramount Chief of Adjade in the Brong Ahafo Region also testified and insisted that his claim was on behalf of the families but Justice Apau insisted that the area the chief was coming from had Stool Lands not family lands.

The chief said he collected a whooping GH¢3.518,184.46 in five tranches when in the commission’s record he had collected GH¢3.636.642 for an acreage that was not clear on the site plan.




Friday, September 19, 2014

VEEP GETS NEW MANSION

The mansion under construction

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Friday, September 19, 2014

It appears that President John Dramani Mahama is not in a hurry to vacate the official residence of the Vice President at East Cantonment area of Accra after spending huge sums of money to furnish the official residence of the President at the seat of government, the Flagstaff House.

This is because the Mahama administration has commenced the construction of what is believed to be a new official residence of Vice President Paa Kwesi B. Amissah-Arthur at Cantonments.

The amount for the massive project is said to be in legion of several million dollars and it is progressing rapidly in spite of challenges facing the economy for which the IMF has come to bail Ghana out.

The new Vice President official residence is being built on the land on which the former Nigerian High Commission located behind the Police Headquarters at Broz Tito Avenue on the Kumordzi Hospital Road where the Food Research Institute (FRI) of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSRI) is located.

Interestingly, Ghanaians were told that the Flagstaff House, when it was built was supposed to serve as office and residence for both the President and his vice.

President Mahama still occupies his bungalow which he moved into as Vice President while Vice President Amissah-Arthur is also staying in the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor residence where he used to be the Governor at the end of the same road.

In spite of the reasons, the current construction will be a further burden on the already-stretched taxpayer.

Attempts to speak to presidential spokesperson, Ben Botsei Malor were not successful as he was not picking calls to his phone.

Last year a contract for furnishing the presidential quarters in Flagstaff House was awarded to Ebby Mays Furnishings at a cost of GHC218, 565.50 (C2.2billion) but yet, President Mahama is still staying at the Vice president residence depriving some officials of their entitlements because of his refusal to move.

CSRI Lands
However, Dr. Abdulai B. Salifu Director General of CSIR confirmed to DAILY GUIDE via telephone that the massive construction was to serve as the official residence of the Vice President and admitted that part of the CSRI – FRI lands was included in the project.

“In fact the National Security had to come to us before the construction of the building because one of our bungalows was affected and we had to find a replacement for it. I used to discuss a lot with Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (then National Security Coordinator) but he is no longer in charge so basically that is it,” he said.

“Where the massive construction is ongoing really doesn’t fall on our land. The only portion is the bungalow to the extreme right was demolished to pave way for the Vice President’s construction and we cannot lay claim to everything. The land on which the Nigerian High Commission was situated belonged to the government and it had been leased to the government of Nigeria.”

Underground Facilities
DAILY GUIDE gathered that there are three huge structures making up the whole project and all the three have underground facilities. The project is being executed by Consar Limited, an Italian construction giant.

DAILY GUIDE also learnt that there is always national security presence at the construction site and at one point SWAT anti-riot police was brought to the premises to forcibly take over portions of other CSIR staff bungalows in order to extend the Vice President’s portion and confrontation ensued.

“A security officer who was with the SWAT team ordered a staff from Consar to erect stakes to demarcate the premises of the CSIR staff to be added to the Vice President’s portion amid threats that they will be removed completely if they frustrated the ongoing works,” a source said.

“The inconvenience that has come with the project has been massive and it is having a telling effect on residents. The contractor has been pumping rain water which floods the streets leading to the residences of senior staff.

 Additionally, the main pipeline supplying water to residents has been cut off and a make-shift water supply provided and as a result, we enjoy water only once or twice weekly instead of the regular flow.”

“We have even been told that the roads will be cordoned off as the project advances because they will pose security risks to the property.

Ministry of Environment
There were also allegation that an adjoining offices of CSRI-FRI were taken over by then Minister of Environment and Science, Sherry Ayittey about five years ago for a United Nations project and upon completion, an unknown private company was said to have entered the property and is working from there but the Director-General said it could not be possible.

“That walled facility painted blue was given to the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology to embark on a UN funded project. I think it was a three-year project. Those premises are currently vacant but the ministry has to officially hand it back to us. “It is not true that the facility was given to a private company after the UN project ended.”

Security Concerns
Dr. Salifu said the facility will be part of the graduate school soon to be established by the CSRI saying “we don’t know how it is going to be because it is very close to where the official residence of the Vice President is being constructed.”

He said that the institute was renovating the dilapidated storey building close to the Police Headquarters to form part of the graduate school.

There are concerns that CSRI lands are being taken over by developers including the government. Currently, there is encroachment on lands for Animal Research Institute, Water Research Institute, Crops Research Institute among others.

The source cynically remarked that “certainly, this government does not recognize that science and technology can solve the country’s problems and bring increased productivity to the country.”

The Furnishing Contract
The GHC218, 565.50 Ebby Mays Furnishings contract involved furnishings the residency including the down stairs corridors which is costing the tax payer an amount of GHC67, 220.00, GHC1,669.00 for coffee room curtains, voile and trimming, GHC5995.00 for reception curtains, voile and trimming, GHC6,455.00 for the main living room voile and trimming, GHC2,261.00 for bar voile and trimming and GHC9, 755.00 for the dining area.

The rest include an amount of GHC2,461.00 for a recreational room- formal coffee room, GHC171.00 for an informal kitchen Venetian blinds only, GHC2,850.00 for gym remote control blinds, GHC3, 604.00 for a family dining room, GHC1,925.00 for the main kitchen, GH8,380.00 for the meeting area and GHC3, 243.00 for the waiting reception/visitors lounge.

Others include an amount of GHC5,940.00 for a playroom and lobby, GHC31,270.00 for the upstairs corridors, GHC7,212.00 for what was described as Madams room and library, GHC7,212.00 two master bedrooms and libraries, GHC11,540.00 for the private lounge of suites and GHC4,562.00 for a supposed prayer room.

An amount of GHC11, 900.50 is also to be used to furnish four family bedrooms while an amount of GHC1,323.00 is scheduled to be used to furnish two VIP bedrooms at the Presidents residence, not to talk about GHC2,156.00 for the VIP lounge, GHC1,323.00 for two security rooms, and GHC1,568.00 for the two guest rooms at the downstairs of the Presidential villa.

An amount of GHC15,750.00 is earmarked for workmanship, delivery and installation by the company contracted for the job.
After spending this huge amount of money, it has become a drain on the public purse because President Mahama refused to move.





Wednesday, September 17, 2014

CHRAJ BOSS HOT OVER RENT SCANDAL

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Pressure is mounting on Lauretta Vivian Lamptey, Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) following her extravagant and reckless dissipation of public funds on accommodation running into over $200,000.

She becomes the latest head of a state institution to be embroiled in allegation of wanton misapplication of state resources at a time when the human rights body is clearly starved of funding.
Media reports indicate that the Commissioner currently stays at the Best Western Hotel where the taxpayer is billed $450 daily on her behalf.

Interestingly, the hotel is situated some metres from the commissioner’s officially-designated residence at the Airport Residential Area, Accra which is currently under refurbishment on her orders at a huge cost to CHRAJ.
A member of Parliament’s Special Budget Committee, Frank Annoh Dompreh, is leading a campaign to probe CHRAJ Ms Lamptey, after it emerged she spent more than $148,000 on rent.
Mr Dompreh said the timing for the recent revelations is appropriate since Ms Lamptey has for two years, consistently turned down invitations by the Committee to appear before it to answer allegations of corruption against her.
“Even at a point, we [the Committee] reached a consensus for her to be subpoenaed for her to appear before the Committee of Special Budgets”, the MP for Nsawam/Adoagyir in the Eastern Region, revealed.

Franklin Cudjoe of Imani Ghana called for her dismissal. “Listening to the CHRAJ Boss is getting me very very very angry right now!!!!! This woman paaaa has the temerity to suggest that she is doing us a favour by paying her hotel bills as if it would be free. Ah!! The Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice is a purveyor of injustice. She lived in a hotel in Ghana for years paying a whopping sum of $100,000 whilst her official residence was available. She has violated the basic human rights of all tax payers, especially when she has been very very silent on anything related to administrative abuse and corruption in Ghana. President Mahama, frankly frankly, now these things are affecting your legacy. Please FIRE her right now!!!!”, he said in a facebook post.

AU Village
Before lodging at the hotel, Ms Lamptey resided at the plush African Union (AU) Village at Cantonments, Accra at the cost of $148,500 in rent for 33 months from November 2011 to April 2014.

The tenancy agreement a copy of which is in possession of DAILY GUIDE indicated that she was paying $4,500 monthly to the landlord Sigma 7 Limited of 125 Boundary Rd, East Legon, Accra.

Since her appointment by the late President John Atta Mills, Justice Lamptey whose conditions of service is equivalent to Justices of the Court of Appeal, has not occupied her officially designated residence because she wants the place refurbished.

Efforts by the contractor from PWD Prestige to complete what is believed to be minor refurbishment has been frustrated by the Commissioner’s high sense of taste and as a result, the contractor abandoned the project because the funds had been exhausted.

She has maintained that it is the duty of the state to house her saying “the state has an obligation to house me whether I’m a native of Accra or…anywhere else. The job structure involves being housed; the compensation is based on ‘we are providing these things for you.”

DAILY GUIDE learnt that recently when the Parliamentary Select Committee on Housing invited her to justify her profligate expenditure, she failed to honour the invitation.

Former Commissioner
Former CHRAJ Commissioner Justice Francis Emile Short who occupied the building until his retirement in 2009, appeared set the records straight on the matter when he told a radio station that the renovation was being done on the request of Justice Lamptey and not him as being speculated.

“As far as I can recollect these renovations were requested by the present Commissioner, not me” he said, but admitted that building needed some patching-up.

Bad Faith
DAILY GUIDE was probably the first to contact her for her version of the story but she told this reporter that she was on her way to the airport for a foreign trip and would grant an interview as soon as possible when she returned.

Out of courtesy, Daily Guide had decided to hold on to the story and not go to press until she returned from her trip but unknowing to the paper, the commissioner was granting interview on the issue to another media outlet.

No Leadership
Apart from the issue of accommodation, sources said she hardly steps into the office and most of the works are done by her deputies, adding that the lack of leadership at CHRAJ had accounted for the dwindling role of the commission in the administration of justice.

“She only goes to the office for reimbursement of expenses made and has not visited majority of the commission’s regional and district offices ever since she assumed office,” the source said.

She hardly attends the commission’s internal meetings and is more interested in international human rights invitation where allowances and remunerations are far better,” the source added.

Justification & Denial
In her brief interview with DAILY GUIDE before it was rescheduled, she insisted that she was the one footing her hotel bills but did not indicate whether she was getting a refund and also said she had not been going to work because she was on leave.

She has four cars together with a driver and police protection at her disposal and the cars are always parked at the hotel’s premises.

Poor Work Conditions
The since fire gutted the east wing of the Old Parliament House where CHRAJ head office is located there has not been much effort to press the government to find suitable premises for the commission.

Some essential staff have been cramped into unsuitable office spaces while others are working without offices.

Also going waste are a number of Toyota pickups donated by DANIDA two years ago to enhance the administration of justice but there had not been any effort by the CHRAJ boss to distribute the vehicles to the regions.

The public outcry that has greeted the Commissioner’s ostentatious lifestyle appear to make her stay in office untenable.