The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is investigating the circumstances under which the former Minister, Kwamena Ahwoi granted a request by a private company, Conafric Limited owned by former NDC Press Secretary, Vincent Assiseh, to publish a documentary on District Assemblies.
Although the contract was not placed on tender, each of the 110 district assemblies was made to dole out a whooping 6 million cedis for a two-page write-up included in the publication.
A three-member committee comprising Mr. Magnus Nicol, a private publisher, Mrs. Patience Nortey, senior state Attorney and a third person from the office of the President has been tasked to establish the how the deal was struck between Mr. Assiseh’s company and the ministry.
Each of the assemblies was made to pay at source, 6 million cedis plus a 10 per cent VAT.
The amount totalling 726 million cedis was paid to Conafric Limited by the ministry deducted at source on behalf of the assemblies for the publication.
When the media first broached the subject some NDC functionaries including Assiseh himself came out to explain that the contract was won fairly and was effectively executed.
The paper’s investigations however indicate that the claim is not as untainted as being forcefully argued.
“Documents available to us revealed how assemblies were used as a smoke-screens to channel public funds into NDC’s campaign machinery”.
“In a letter dated September 5, 1998 written by Mr. Assiseh who has announced his resignation from the party, to the then minister, Ahwoi, the former did not hide the actual reason for embarking on that venture by stating thus: In a country where memory is pathetically short, we need to record the enormous strides that are being made by government, not only as a documentary but also as an arsenal in the campaign armoury of the party in the year 2000.”
The investigations being carried out by the ministry forms part of a wider audit of how several funds meant for other purposes besides the stipulated objectives that informed the setting up of the District Assemblies Common Fund.
Revelations from audit reports of the various District Assemblies, most of which border on clear malfeasance by people placed at the helm of raises questions about the effective supervision of the man who once chaired the Citizens Vetting Committee that interrogated and punished public officers who were deemed inefficient in administering state resources and property, the paper said.
