I am sad ‘chop chop’ at Tepa Nursing and Midwifery Training College leaked - Tepahene

The Chief of Tepa Traditional Council Nana Adusei Atwenewa Ampem I has bemoaned the leak of the financial malfeasance ongoing at the Tepa Nursing and Midwifery Training College in the media.

According to him, he was liaising with the appropriate authorities to solve the situation at the blindside of the media.

Ultimate FM uncovered that the Principal Madam Victoria Amoah and the Accountant Asamoah Richard are involved in a GH¢ 9,247,800 corruption scandal in the school.

They are alleged to have issued fake receipts and charged potential students West African Senior School Examination Certificate Examination (WASSCE) verification results during admissions.

But speaking on Ultimate Breakfast Show hosted by Lantam Papanko, the traditional leader admitted telling couple of journalists who contacted him about the allegation not to publish the stories but to keep mum about it.

This, he explained was in protection of the image of the community and the school from being dented and publicly ridiculed and denied bribing journalists to ‘kill’ the story.

‘I am not happy at all about what is going on in the school. I was covering up (the story) because I didn’t want the school’s name to come up on the radio, its just a new school and I am trying to protect the image of the school, that’s all, and I know I have already taken initiative of it, definitely the ministry of health will come out whether the allegation is true or not. That is why I didn’t want the media to come out to announce it, just to protect the image of the school and the town as well, nothing else,… I don’t want anything to go against the school that was the reason why I was trying to prevent journalists from publishing the story,’ he said.

The disappointed Chief blamed the former Minister of Health Alex Segbefia in the erstwhile Mahama administration for not acting early enough on the case when he personally reported the case.

‘Its an allegation that has been made against the Principal and the Accountant. What I know is that every allegation must be followed by investigations. So this thing has come to me before and I wrote to the then Minister of Health Alex Segbefia in 2016 when it came to my notice. So we were just waiting for the ministry’s response, they have not replied to me yet,’ he stated.

He denied that during his tenure, the Principal issued fake receipts and engaged in other forms of financial malfeasance during admissions.

Reacting to situations where the Principal directs Journalists to him for verification or otherwise of the allegations, he said, ‘I was the board chairman of the school since 2014 when the board was dissolved. But as you know, when they dissolve a board and there is no new board, the old board does exists… that is why she always directs they should contact me, I speak in my capacity as an old board chairman’.

He said he planned to speak to the media after he has gotten a reply from the ministry.

Nana Adusei Atwenewa Ampem I indicated that the principal can be pronounced guilty or otherwise until investigation is done.

‘In fact I cannot say whether she is corrupt or not, I am not happy about the way she handles the school, she doesn’t stay on campus,’ he said.

He expressed hope that the current Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu takes the matter up saying he wrote a letter to him two months ago.