NDC money-raising project in jeapody

A project embarked upon by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) dubbed, ‘NDC Development Fund Project’ and a raffle that later came to form part of the money-raising project, have hit the rocks, enveloping the party in a messy situation that could cause disaffection among party men especially those whose monies have already gone into the projects.

According the Chronicle newspaper, a release dated July 27, 2007, and signed by General Secretary of the Party, Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah, aka General Mosquito, signaled how cluttered the project had been, and thus requiring an immediate face saving action from the party.

The statement said the Functional Executive Committee (FEC) of the NDC was drawing the attention of the general public especially patrons of the NDC Development Fund Raffle that Mr. Edward Quartey-Papafio had been suspended as Consultant to the NDC Development Fund Project.

According to the paper, the release had explained that the decision to suspend the consultant stemmed from the unearthing of certain irregularities that were, "being perpetrated by Mr. Quartey-Papafio which border on fraud." It further stated that the matter had been reported to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service for full-scale investigations, "into the conduct of Mr. Quartey Papafio," and warned that anyone who deals with the suspended consultant does so at their own risk.

The release then gave an assurance that a Committee had been put in place at the Party's headquarters to manage the NDFP raffle.

An interview with Mr. Nketiah on Sunday, however revealed that there was more to it than just saying the consultant had been suspended. He explained that the party appointed Mr. Quartey-Papafio in July 2006, as a Consultant to develop a database for the party for the collection of party dues from members.

The General Secretary explained that the project was to be such that upon completion, the party would be able to ascertain who was a genuine party member and who was not, so "that the party would be able to verify the truth or otherwise of reports about some of its members defecting to other parties and also be in a position to identify genuine members in times of competition for positions in the party.

General Mosquito told the Chronicle that the consultant was asked to begin the project on a pilot basis in three communities in the Greater Accra region. The three constituencies were, Adenta, Odododiodio and Madina.

"He started well, and along the line, he told us that the project was being oversubscribed so we should expand it. We agreed and added two more constituencies. Later, he said we should allow him to cover the whole of Greater Accra but we said no because, at the time we realized that despite his claims that there were over subscription, nothing had been paid into the account opened for the monies collected to be paid into," the NDC General Secretary said.

Mr. Nketiah said the Consultant subsequently explained that monies had not been paid into the account because he needed to buy certain logistics necessary for the project. "After two months, no monies had still been paid into the account and he started dilly dallying any time we questioned him about what was happening to the monies collected," Asiedu Nketiah said.

He explained that at this stage, the party constituted a Committee to analyze the situation and propose appropriate measures of dealing with the situation, "but he complained that the Committee wanted to take over his job."

General Mosquito went on to explain that later on, the consultant offered an explanation that the monies he had collected was not even enough to procure identity cards, (smart cards) for those who had started paying their dues so he had launched a raffle to raise additional money for the project.

"We however pointed out to him that he could not do something like that in the name of the party without approval."

"We later held a meeting and ratified the raffle but we set up a committee to help run the raffle but we realized later that he had ignored the Committee and was running the raffle project like his own business," Asiedu Nketiah told The Chronicle.

The General Secretary said the draw date for the raffle was drawing nearer, people had bought coupons and others had paid dues but there was no monies available for potential winners so the party was forced to postpone the draw date.

"A new draw date was fixed for July 27, but the consultant, who was to account for the money, vanished and we had to report him to the police because we don't want to sit down to be thrown into a mess," he stated further.

Asked about the next step the party would be taking to ensure that those whose monies had already gone into the raffle got their monies back or get the raffle running, the opposition party scribe said, “We will retrieve all coupons to know how much had been collected and revalidate the coupons so that we can ensure that no body loses in the end.”

Asiedu Nketia disclosed that Mr. Quartey Papafio was not a party member and was recruited because he had demonstrated some expertise that proved he could execute the project.