Another NDC Scandal Exposed

....Gross Misapplication of Common Fun

The former National Democratic Congress (NDC) District Chief Executive for Awutu-Senya District Assembly, Mr. William Osardo, doled out ?2,000,000 from the Poverty Alleviation Fund as part payment of a ?9,000,000 compensation the party promised a victim who was knocked down by one of the NDC's uninsured and unregistered vehicles.

Records at the assembly indicated that the two million cedis compensation was recorded as having been a loan given to the victim, Ghanney Ebenezer, even though this paper can report that Mr. Osardo gave it out as part of the promised compensation which under normal circumstances should have been handled at party level and solved with party fund.

The NDC has always denied rumours that it was using state resources such as the poverty alleviation fund for party activities but this instance has confirmed public cries that indeed the party used state funds for its activities.

On October 12, last year, the Efutu Awutu Senya District Assembly fired a letter to Ghanney asking him to indicate within two weeks how he intended to liquidate the ?2 million debt plus ?600,000 interest.

In a petition to Attorney-General, Ghanney stated that on August 7 1996, he was knocked down by an uninsured and unregistered Lada private vehicle belonging to the Winneba branch of the NDC.

The vehicle, according to a police report signed by Deputy Superintendent S.Y Danso of the Winneba District police was then bein driveng by Eric Amankwa, an unlicensed driver.

The victim petition further states that he was referred from the Winneba Government hospital to the Koforidua St. Joseph hospital on August 9, 1996 after medical examinations confirmed his condition was serious.

After being bed-ridden at the hospital for over a year, Ghanney Ebenezer was finally discharged on December 24, 1997 and information indicated that while he was hospitalised, the NDC which is the owner of the uninsured and unregistered vehicle that was being driven by an unlicensed driver and party member, causing the accident left the victim to his fate and never catered for his hospital bill.

The case has never been called at court even though it was listed for hearing on three occasions at the Circuit Court in Swedru.

Upon persistent pressure amid threats to take on the NDC for neglecting him, the victim was finally summoned to a meeting in the year 2000, three years after he was discharged from hospital and four years after the accident.

At the meeting which was attended by the then D.C.E, Mr. William Osardo, the District Co-ordinating Director, Mr. G.B.L Siilo and the District Superintendent of Police in charge of Winneba District, Mr. Danso, the then D.C.E promised to pay ?9,000,000 as compensation to cover the medication since the victim was neglected and left to his fate while at the hospital.

Out of the agreement, Ghanney Ebenezer was paid four million cedis as compensation, leaving the remaining five million cedis yet to be settled by a political party that always boasted of having men of integrity.

Last year, after the NDC left office and records at the Awutu-Afutu-Senya District scrutinised, it was detected that the then D.C.E, Mr. Osardo, doctored records as having given out two million cedis to the victim as a loan, even though in actual fact that money was part of compensation payment to the victim as a result of the accident caused by the NDC.

The victim is yet to receive the full compensation promised him even though the District Assembly as recorded falsely in their document by the then D.C.E has written to him to pay back the ?2,000,000 "loan" given him with interest of ?600,000.

In a telephone interview, Mr. G.B.L Siilo, the District Co-ordinating Director admitted that the issue of compensation should have been handled at party level but since Mr. Osardo was controlling the Poverty Alleviation Fund, he doled it out to the victim which was wrong.

"It should have been done at party level but since Osardo was controlling the fund, no one could stop him", Mr. Siilo said.

Asked why the victim was written to pay back the money with interest, he said since it was recorded as a loan it was his duty to write to the victim, requesting him to pay it back.

Meanwhile, a medical report from the St. Joseph's hospital assessed the victim's cosmetic disfigurement and incapacity to be at 45%.

The report signed by Dr. Juan Casals, the Orthopaedic specialist stated that Ebenezer Ghanney though is in good condition of health currently, has Mild Cerebral Concussion, Partial Impairness of the eyes an d anaesthetic scars and other scars due to the abrasion and lacerations sustained during the accident.