Debt Collecting DCE Destroys Property

A crude attempt by a District Chief Executive to play debt collector witnessed an anti-climax following the vandalization of property worth millions of cedis.

Apparently frustrated at the determination of the Western Hardwood company to default payment of some ?50 million owed his District Assembly, the District Chief Executive for Ahanta West in the Western Region Kwesi Biney, decided to give it his last try. The end result was an extensive damage to property.

And the rationale behind this action instead of going to court according to Kwesi B, is that a ''court action will take too long a time,'' besides to him, his action has yielded results since ''the MD has sent a friend to see me with a promise to pay ?10 million and a negotiable settlement of the rest of the money.''

Based on that, he has temporally withdrawn the blockage around the factory due to the fire outbreak and pending the outcome of negotiations. It all started in the afternoon of Sunday February 9. District Chief Executive Kwesi Biney mobilized and led a team of officers from the District Assembly to barricade the entrance of the factory.

They used a tractor and a water tanker to attempt an unprofessional standoff to force the company to pay an accumulated property rate of about ?50 million owed the Assembly. As they were busily tightening up the screws on the factory led by Mr. Biney, nature was doing its own thing, fire was raging nearby ready to devour the factory.

Even though Mr. Biney claims that he was forced to resort to such an action because the company had acted with utmost disregard to the authority of the assembly by refusing to honour its indebtedness anytime officers from the assembly approached them. He gave an instance when letters were sent to the company on the 8th of January giving them a two-week ultimatum. That was treated with contempt, disregard and scorn.

He insisted that it was when the company refused to respond to the final letter sent to them on 6th February that he resorted to barricading the entrance to the company. The end result was that fire engulfed the factory that has about 50 workers who also take care of at least two persons and destroyed property worth 50 million cedis.

Then with that act, the Chief Executive of the district in one fell swoop slapped Article 101 clause 2 of the local Government Act (Act 462) which states ''if any person fails to pay any rate for which he is liable on or before the date on which it is payable, the District Assembly concerned may recover it as a civil debt together with costs or may prosecute the defaulting party'' in the face..

The Managing Director of the company Mr. Farouk admitted to this reporter that his company owed property rate to the assembly but claimed he is making every effort to pay the money. He said the company is in a deep financial crisis as a result of a long dispute over the land on which it is situated and also due to the general decline affecting the timber industry.

He showed a letter the company received from the Assembly on 7th February part of which read ''since you have been consistent in your recalcitrant stance to the Assembly, we are compelled to resort to equal force to retrieve what you owe us'' and wondered why in this democratic era, such a erude method could be used to collect debt.

According to him he had to use a lot of tact and diplomacy to restrain his workers from taking the law into their own hands. Family, relations and relatives of the affected workers who perceive the DCE’S act to have stemmed out of arrogance have started wondering whether what Mr. Biney’s attitude is not a general malaise of the Kufuor administration.

The Regional Fire Officer Timothy Arthur confirmed the story but expressed frustration that even when the fire tenders tried to meander their way round the blockade they were prevented. He had to call for police protection before the workers could push the tractor away for the tenders to get access to the raging fire.

He questioned the authority that is vested in a DCE to deny the Fire Service access to an attacked premises to carry out a constitutional duty but confessed that he was yet to contact DCE Kwesi Biney to find out why such a thing should happen. The Regional Engineer of the Electricity Company of Ghana told the Network Herald that it cost the company over ?19 million cedis to restore power to the factory premises. He confirmed earlier suggestions that the fire was caused by a wild bush fire.