Kojo Bonsu dragged to PAC for ‘misappropriation of funds’

Some members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) have petitioned the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament over what they describe as misappropriation of funds by Chief Executive Kojo Bonsu.

According to them, Mr Bonsu’s expenditure on the Rattray Park at Asafo, Kumasi exceeds the approved budget.

Speaking to TV3’s regional correspondent, Abraham Boadi, a member for the Nhyiaeso Electoral Area, pointed out that GH¢4.1 million was approved for the gate-free recreational park.

However, he says, Mr Bonsu went on record to say that $4.4 million was expended on the project.

Mr Boadi accused Mr Bonsu of spending beyond the agreed budget while the Assembly had been dissolved due to the delay in the district assembly elections.

“We want the security agencies either to invite or to arrest Kojo Bonsu because we think he is misappropriating KMA funds and misappropriation of funds is against our laws,” he told TV3’s William Evans Nkum.

But in a sharp rebuttal, the spokesperson of the KMA Chief Executive, Samuel Gyamfi, says the rise in cost is normal in public sector development.

Mr Gyamfi said the claims should be treated with the contempt it deserves as "these false claims can only be seen as a desperate attempt to soil my hard-won reputation and distract me from my vision of bringing tremendous development to the Kumasi metropolis," says a statement read on behalf of Mr Bonsu.

He described the allegations as "baseless, hollow and unfounded".