Manasseh Azure accuses Local Government Ministry of ‘hoarding’ information

Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has disclosed that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development deliberately refused to give him information on some ‘questionable’ contracts that were signed in the GYEEDA scandal.

He made the revelation at a public forum to celebrate the International Day for Universal Access to Information at the International Press Centre in Accra.

The ace journalist lamented that anytime he went to the Ministry, the feedback he got was that the Ministry was waiting for the Attorney General’s department to respond to their request to either hold on to the information or release it.

He added that upon making enquiries at the Attorney General’s office, he realised that the Ministry had not being honest with him.

“I decided to bypass his (Chief Director) excuses, went ahead to verify and the Attorney General’s department told me it was a lie. No such letter had come from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to their outfit”, he stated.

He said that the then Chief Director of the Ministry, Charles Dondieu, claimed there was a miscommunication in that regard.

According to Mr. Awuni, the Director for Finance and Administration at the Ministry, Frank Raji claimed that the contracts were missing and that the ministry would write to its agencies to see whether they had copies.