The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) at the weekend denied any act of dishonesty or wrongdoing on the part of its Executive Secretary, Dr Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, saying it has full confidence in his integrity and competence.
The NRC was reacting to a publication by the Ghana Palaver, a private newspaper, in its May 16-19, 2003 edition, that sought to portray Dr Attafuah as having dishonestly received two months' salary from the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
A statement signed by Ms Annie Anipa, Public Affairs Director of the NRC, stated that though CHRAJ inadvertently paid the money, "it was Dr Attafuah who initiated the entire process resulting in the rectification of the error, which was not the making of either Dr Attafuah or the NRC".
"The Commission is convinced that Dr Attafuah acted with diligence and integrity in correcting the mistake and in refunding the money. The NRC has full confidence in the integrity and competence of Dr Attafuah as its Executive Secretary," it stated.
The statement said until his appointment as the Executive Secretary of the NRC in May 2002, Dr Attafuah was the Director of Promotion and Anti-Corruption at the CHRAJ, from where he was seconded.
It cited a letter from the Acting Secretary of the Public Services Commission (PSC) dated June 20, 2002 copied to the Secretary to the President, Chairman of the NRC and Dr Attafuah, informing the Commissioner of CHRAJ, among other things, that in cases of secondment, "the seconded officer retains his employee relationship with his parent organisation".
The letter also stated that the recipient organisation bears responsibility for the payment of the emoluments attached to the post held by the seconded officer at the recipient organisation.
"In effect, the parent organisation ceases to pay the seconded officer during the period of secondment," it said.
The statement said in a memo dated September 16, 2002, the Chairman of the NRC asked the Director of Finance and Administration at the NRC, Mr E.A. Cooper, to liaise with the Accountant at the CHRAJ to determine salaries and allowances paid to Dr Attafuah since May 2002.
"He was also to inform the CHRAJ Accountant that the NRC would 'take over the payment of salaries and allowances to Dr Attafuah from 1st November, 2002'."
The statement said in a letter dated October 17, 2002, the CHRAJ Accountant, Mr Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah, provided the NRC with the computation of salaries paid to Dr Attafuah for the period May - September 2002.
It said on Wednesday, January 15,2003, Dr Attafuah formally informed Mr Cooper by memo that the CHRAJ had paid salaries into his personal account at Standard Chartered Bank, High Street, Accra, for the months of November and December, 2002, despite the directive from the PSC.
The memo partially ran: "As I informed you verbally, I detected these payments while reviewing my bank statements from the Standard Chartered Bank in early January, 2003. I understand that the NRC took over the payment of my salaries from the CHRAJ with effect from 1st November 2002."
"I am by this memo reiterating my verbal request to you to draw this situation to the attention of the CHRAJ in order to stop the payments and to enable the NRC or me to reimburse the CHRAJ for the payments as appropriate."
The statement said on January 17, 2003, Mr Cooper wrote to the CHRAJ Accountant drawing his attention to the fact that the NRC had been responsible for the full payment of emoluments of Dr Attafuah since November 2002.
Then on February 18, 2003, Mr Cooper, at the further insistence of Dr Attafuah, wrote again to the Commissioner of CHRAJ asking him to discontinue the payment of Dr Attafuah's salary, adding: "he is being asked ....to take steps to reimburse the CHRAJ for payments lodged in his account since November 2002.
The statement said on March 5, 2003, the NRC received a copy of a letter addressed to Dr Attafuah from the Commissioner of CHRAJ, Mr Emile Francis Short, which referred to the PSC letter of June 20, 2002, and the NRC's letter of February 7m, 2003, requesting Dr Attafuah to refund the sum of 5,400,059.28 being salaries for November and December 2002, paid to him,
It said on March 7, 2003, Dr Attafuah forwarded to the CHRAJ two cheques covering the sum of 5,400,059.28 cedis, "being a refund of salaries paid (him) in error" by the CHRAJ for the months of November and December, 2002.
The statement said the CHRAJ Accountant acknowledged receipt of the cheques on April 18, 2003.
"In these circumstances, the detection of the error in payments was clearly not the result of the diligence of the CHRAJ or any other person at that institution as claimed by the Ghana Palaver; instead, it was Dr Attafuah who noticed the error and took steps to rectify it," the statement added.
