CJA whips Parliament to work on alleged malfeasance on NHIS

Accra, July 23, GNA - The Committee for Joint Action, a pressure group, has urged the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament to work expeditiously on the massive malfeasance contained in the Auditor General's Report for 2005 on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The CJA in letter addressed to the Chairman of the PAC, urged the Committee to retrieve all the public funds misapplied or embezzled, and deal with the financial miscreants according to law. The letter, signed by Mr Kwesi Pratt Junior, Convener of the CJA, listed 14 financial irregularities, contained in the Auditor General's Report, a number of which contravened the Public Procurement Act. The CJA complained of an award of the same contract to three different companies to monitor and review media campaign about the NHIS.

It explained that despite Axis Advertising Company securing the contract, the same contract, for an inexplicable reason, was awarded to two other companies called Media Touch Production Limited and Media Plus for a fee totalling Gh¢35,992.5.

Also, the Auditor General found that a financial consultant of the NHIS, Mr Foster-Folson and the Scheme's Co-ordinator, Mr Kofi Adusei, breached the financial discipline by falsely and illegally certifying that work contracted to Adams Advertising, totalling GH¢227,120.4 to mount 123 billboards nationwide had been completed when in actual fact only 19 were mounted.

Furthermore, Adams Advertising did not possess the capacity to undertake the job, but it was awarded the contract which they subsequently sub-contracted to another company called Design Display and Publicity. As result the state lost GH¢29,620.6.

Referring to the Audit Report, the CJA recalled that a Ministerial Team, set up by Dr S. A. Akor, Executive Secretary of NHIS, Mr Ampong Darkwa and Kwasi Amo as members overpaid themselves honorarium that was above the agreed rate to the tune of GH¢11,220.

It said Mr Darkwa was "caught in the web of conflict of interest when he set up a company to provide consultancy services to MMDAs. Mr Darkwa of McKof Limited received a total amount of GH¢133,239.6 for consultancy services.

"Mr Akwasi Amo also owns a company called Organisation and Systems Limited, which also collected GH¢125,017.6 for consultancy services performed for MMDAs," the CJA said, and wondered why Mr Darkwa was still at post at the NHIS despite the adverse findings against him. The CJA said the Public Procurement Act 2003 was circumvented, when a single contract was divided into eight separate parts to avoid competitive tendering.

"A contract for the procurement of 1.550 million campaign brochures at a cost of GH¢211,200 was broken down into eight separate contracts of GH¢276,006 each. This enabled the contract to be distributed among eight companies without any semblance of fairness, transparency and competitiveness." Other complaints of the CJA are that although the Government incurred a cost of GH¢5,860 for the issuance of 17,000 copies of wall posters, they were not accounted for. Also, theft cases of quantities of equipment from the offices of the NHIS, despite 24 hour security cover in those offices, were reported in addition to several cases of maladministration which resulted in a situation where GH¢166,591 of set up funds that had been given to District and Municipal Health Insurance Schemes were not accounted for. In another case, although 339 officers attended a workshop, 419 officers signed to receive allowances relating to a training programme, the excess amount of which totalled GH¢9,717. The CJA also observed that an amount of 260,000 pounds sterling that was awarded to the NHIS by the British Department for International Development had not been released by the Ministry of Health and GH¢64,600 grant awarded to the NHIS was misapplied for other activities.