GHC350m Central medical Store rot: Government slow in acting - Corruption Watch

An anti-corruption civil society coalition, Corruption Watch is mounting pressure on government to be quick in prosecuting perpetrators of the Central Medical Stores fire that happened 3 years ago in Tema.

Corruption Watch, comprising of Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), and Africa Center for International Law and Accountability, chided government for not taking action on the 3-year-old incident the claimed GHC350 million worth of drugs.

At a staged pop-up event held on Wednesday, December 6, 2017, at the forecourt of Wisconsin International University College in Accra, Corruption Watch presented to the general public GHC350 million in GHC50 dummy notes.

*“80km of road, 200 6-unit classroom block, 100 CHPS compound, 578 boreholes could have done with the GHC350 yet not a single person has been brought to book*” Nhyira Addo said at the event.

The Central Medical Stores was razed in 2015, and preliminary investigations blamed it on arson.

In 2016, 12 officials of the Ghana Health Service who were accused of playing various roles in the arson were also interdicted, but the status of the case is not yet known.

A committee established to investigate the case blamed it on arson, naming one Samuel Dogbe, a labourer at the Medical Stores, as being behind the fire.

Meanwhile, the Auditor-General is conducting a forensic audit on activities of the Central Medical Stores leading to the fire that destroyed the facility.

Almost three years after the incident, no one has been prosecuted or held liable despite suspicion of arson.

Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, said government will take the needed action after the completion of the forensic audit.