Ho Municipal assembly members lock up finance officer’s office; call for his removal

Members of the Ho Municipal Assembly are calling for the removal of the Municipal Finance Officer, George Afetorgbor, from office.

According to the members, Mr George Afetorgbor is hampering the development of the Assembly, therefore, they want him transferred elsewhere.

The Assembly members, thus, locked up the municipal finance officer’s office, denying him access.

Presiding Member of the Ho Municipal Assembly, Mawunyo Agbe, explained that though they do not have the power to sack him, he must be replaced to ensure a smooth running of the assembly.

He told Class 91.3 FM’s Volta Regional Correspondent, Kingsley Attitsogbui that: “…and yes, we have privileges that we have given to the gentleman. Today, we say: ‘No, we’re stripping off these privileges’ because we want to send a signal to his employers that we mean business. It’s not within our powers to sack him [so that he will] not to be an accountant anymore.

“All we need is that, please replace this gentleman. Get us somebody to come and help us build the municipality. The[re] are persistent complaint[s] from assembly members, from some staff and even to the extent that my MP is even a victim of the MFO, I can tell you it is not the best.”

He noted that the people have been crying for change for not less than three months now yet the employer has turned a deaf ear.

“The employers are aloof, they don’t care, they care less about what is happening in the municipality. This is the best way and this is our responsibility. The responsibility of assembly members now is to be part of checks and balances; whether things are working well,” he said.

“We have no option than to go all out to stop the abuse that is happening to us all to have some relief so that when members go seeking for development to go to their areas, he as more or less the finance minister of the assembly will now understand that there must be some sort of alacrity attached to what we’re asking for,” he explained this and the assembly’s position.

The Chairman for Finance & Accounts Committee, Patrick Larry Stone, also accused the finance officer of using a vehicle meant for the assembly as his private vehicle, hampering the work of the revenue mobilisation team.

“He [Municipal Account officer] refused to release the vehicle for revenue mobilisation and the vehicle is labelled. You’ll see it’s branded revenue mobilisation, it’s not a private vehicle but any other time you go to him to release the vehicle for revenue mobilization, he wouldn’t release, so he’s using the car as a private car at the expense of the assembly,” Mr Stone complained.

He added: “We have a programme called the compliant audit, the compliance audit halted over the period because we don’t have the vehicle we’re supposed to use.”