GBC Robbed of ?552.9m

Chronicle investigations at the Garden City Radio (GCR) of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation have revealed that a total of ?552.9 collected as television licence fees on behalf of the corporation by agents have gone down the drain.

A report of a three-member committee of enquiry, which investigated allegations of financial impropriety recently, confirmed that the money was squandered between January 2000 and October 2002.

The committee investigated the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Task Force in Ashanti, the modalities, rules, regulations and remuneration, membership of the Task Force and its relationship with the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the GBC.

During the period under review, five agents acted for GBC in Kumasi and caused defaulters of T.V. licence fees to be arraigned before court which fined them a total of ?488,947,500 out of which ?97,789,500 was retained by the courts to defray administrative charges.

In the same period, ?64,011,250 T.V. licence fees were collected from eight districts in Ashanti by the Task Force with ?12,802,250 representing 20% for the courts.

GBC, according to the report, signed an agreement with Onyame Ne Hene Company in June 2000 as official collectors of the fees but there are over 80 other collecting agents in Ashanti region.

The agreement stipulates that the company/agent would pay all monies collected into GBC's designated account within 48 hours of collection, less 10% commission, which should include all costs of operation by the agent.

The agent was also to file quarterly returns of all monies collected but this condition was completely ignored.

Onyame Ne Hene, with a labour force of 19, also kept all fines imposed by the courts on defaulters.

The committee, headed by Mr. Yaw Owusu Addo, Director of Radio, said it was anomalous for the Task Force to have kept court fines to themselves. It observed that the Task Force also concentrated on arrests instead of persuading people to pay voluntarily.

Out of a total of ?552,958.750 imposed on defaulters by the courts during the period the courts retained 20% amounting to ?110,591,750 while the remaining 80% totaling ?442,591,750 which the company was supposed to account to GBC was not done.

An audit report of December 10, 2002, which probed the same issue, also observed that a T.V. Task Force co-ordinated by GBC's PRO for the Northern Sector, Mr. Mensah Nyarko had earlier in 1998 been formed alongside the T.V. licence agents.

The report indicated that in 1999, court fines of ?15,520,000 were released to the Task Force by the courts in Kumasi which were not accounted to the GBC but retained to defray cost of logistics and administrative charges in addition to the 10% commission accrued to it (Task Force).

A further examination of the GBC records disclosed that TV Licence fees collected for the Northern sector during the period between 2000 and 2002 amounted to ?1,119.777,257.00 out of which ?111,977,725 being 10% of total collections was paid to agents while GBC received ?1,007,799,530.00.

Meanwhile the T.V. licence fees totaling ?44,355,000 were collected for the first quarter of 2003 which contributed 14.2% of the total revenue of GCR. The figure represents 38.8% before the previous figure of ?72,523 million.

The Owusu Addo committee has therefore recommended that GBC negotiate with the courts for the payment of the 80% of fines directly to the corporation, while it reviews its agreement with the agents to avoid further losses.