The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has recommended to the President to terminate the appointment of Nene Osabutey IV, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Yilo Krobo, for gross mismanagement of the assembly's finances.
This followed the Commission's adverse findings against the DCE following a number of allegations leveled against him by the Krobo Youngsters Development Foundation (KYDF). It cautioned members of the various district assemblies to guard against the selection of their favorites to occupy key positions in the assemblies instead of electing them. This, the Commission noted, will result in "conflicts of interest" and consequently lead to financial losses to the assemblies, thus undermining public confidence in the district assembly concept. It commended the efforts of the leadership of the foundation as well as those members of the assembly who, in the face of stiff opposition from the majority members, remained vigilant over the work of the assembly and exposed certain malpractices.
In December, 1997, the KYDF, not satisfied with the way certain contracts in the district were awarded and executed, petitioned the CHRAJ to probe Nene Osabutey and four other key members of the assembly, namely the District Co-ordinating Director, Finance Officer, Budget Officer and the former Deputy Co-ordinating Director, for mismanagement. The contracts in question involved the construction of a lorry park at Nkurakan, the Boti Resort, the renovation of the DCE's residence, and an electrification project (street lights). The others were a 16-seater KVIP at Akpege, a booster station, and the construction of a six-classroomed block at Sawer in Somanya. On the execution of almost all these projects, the Commission discovered that the DCE and the other officers "persistently flouted with impunity" laid down procedures for the award of those contracts. The Commission found out that, apart from awarding contracts "dubiously", there were excessive variations in almost all the contracts without reference to the assembly.
The DCE normally exceeded the assembly's approved estimates for those contracts and, in some cases, sought approval from the assembly after heated debates. The Commission noted, for example, that by handpicking and not electing members of its Executive Committee, the assembly disregarded laid-down statutory provisions, adding that, as required by law, it should have complied with them by voting. The CHRAJ observed that the assembly did not have a Tender Board as claimed by the DCE and, for that matter, awarded contracts without authorization and approval from the District Assembly. Furthermore, CHRAJ discovered that the board was not properly constituted and since most of its "so-called" members were found out to be related to the DCE, there was always a "conflict of interest" in their duties. For example, it was not a mere coincidence that one Mr Offei, believed to be a nephew of the DCE, who held several key positions in the assembly as an executive member, Chairman of the Tender Board, and a member of the Tender Evaluation Committee, was awarded a number of contracts.
The Commission also established that the numerous variations in the estimates of most contracts resulted in the assembly's "excessive spending" on those projects. For example, the CHRAJ detected that instead of the original approved sum of 110 million cedis for the Nkurakan Lorry Park project, the assembly ended up spending a total of 130 million cedis on it. On the Boti Falls, the DCE admitted before the probe that even though approval was given for the erection of eight summer huts at a total cost 49 million cedis, the contractor completed only four of them and abandoned the project while additional two were at the foundation level. The Commission learnt with surprise that, in spite of this, the contractor, who was only half-way through the contract, was paid 46 million cedis out of the total contract sum of 49 million cedis.
Mr Offei's company was selected to construct the six-classroom block at Sawer and, instead of 60 million cedis approved for the project, ended up collecting 70 million cedis. On this particular project, CHRAJ ordered that the DCE should either ensure that Mr Offei refunds the excess money paid to him, or he the DCE pays it back into the assembly's coffers. The Commission made no adverse findings in respect of the streetlights project because it learnt that work on it had been satisfactorily completed. On the DCE's residence, it was found out that the assembly expressed grave concern about extra expenditure of 19 million cedis on the project instead of the approved figure of 31 million cedis, resulting in a heated debate in the house.
The DCE could not provide the Commission with evidence on how the excess expenditure on the project came about. It also came to light at the probe that instead of 270 million cedis approved by the assembly for the construction of market stalls, the DCE succeeded in disbursing a total of 388.2 million cedis on the project. On all the aforementioned projects, it came to the notice of CHRAJ that none of the contractors signed any contract performance bonds so that, in case of non-performance, he would either be made to refund monies paid to him or have his contract revoked and terminated. Mr Francis Emile Short, Commissioner of CHRAJ, chaired the probe.
