GH¢110,546 oil cash for project missing

Daily Guide has learnt that a total of GH¢245,082.35 meant for the construction of a kindergarten block for Dabaabi M/A Primary School in the Dormaa Central municipality of the Brong-Ahafo Region has not been accounted for.

According to the Finance Ministry, the said amount was paid to the construction firm in November 2016, yet there is no such structure at Dabaabi. This is slightly less than the initial estimated cost of GH¢251,550.00.

Out of the total amount of GH¢245,082.35 expended on the project by the Ministry of Finance, GH¢110,546.49 is reported to be from Ghana’s oil revenue.

Checks at the Dabaabi M/A Primary School indicate that there is no such project because not a single concrete block could be found on the site as evidence of the money used. More so, the headmaster of the school, chief of the community, Nana Yaw Sakyi III and former Municipal Chief Executive of Dormaa Central, Gordon Asubonteng, said no such school project is in the municipality.

This revelation came to the attention of DAILY GUIDE when Dr. Ishmael Ackah, energy adviser for the Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) posted it on his Facebook wall recently.

According to him, ACEP, as part of its random tracking of projects funded with funds from Ghana’s oil revenue, realized that the Dabaabi kindergarten block was not visible on the ground.

ABFA Confirms Spending

When DAILY GUIDE checked the 2014 reconciliation report on the Petroleum Holding Fund, ACEP’s claim was corroborated. The section of the report that reads, ‘2013 Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA)’ indicates that GH¢110,546.49 was released for the construction of a two-stream kindergarten block at Dabaabi M/A Primary School.

Dr. Ackah noted that it is not clear where the other half of the GH¢245,082.35 purported to have been spent on the project came from.

The school, which was earmarked as one of the ‘schools under trees,’ was supposed to have been completed in 2014, yet it is 2017 and the school is yet to see the kindergarten project on the ground. What currently exists is a modest structure being put up by the community.

When the headmaster and the chief of the community were contacted, it came to light that the community had been contributing GH¢8.00 per month to construct a modest structure to house the kindergarten pupils.

ACEP To The Rescue

The amount, which was said to be inadequate, could only develop a wooden structure without a roof. ACEP donated some money to assist the community purchase aluminum roofing sheets for the structure. The community still needs over GH¢2,000.00 to complete the structure.