The NLA, the Law and related matters - Part 1

There has been an uneasy calm within the walls of the National Lottery Authority on a myriad of issues that have seen the State's revenue machinery grind almost to a halt. The NLA, which was recently raking in over GHC5 million a week in revenues currently struggles to achieve half of those revenues, but has found ways to increase its expenditure with mostly questionable budgetary items through the abuse of the procurement system while payments to service providers are delayed, sometimes until the threat of court action.

What makes matters worse, is the recent announcement that 'advanced games' which guaranteed the Authority more revenues and gave it leverage over the banker-to-banker establishment has been abolished. Maybe, Mr. George Addo-Yobo who spearheaded this can explain why. In any case, he is past 60 years and as a Director for almost 20 years, we believe it is time he is sent home. These and other matters were the subject of our investigations that accidentally opened up the pandora's box of Kofi Osei Ameyaw, the current Director-General.

It turns out that Mr. David Lamptey then Head of Legal at the Authority, had fallen out with the Director General whom many suspect he had provided cover for on several occasions, including the recent procurement issues that bothered on conflict of interest and other breaches.

Remember the contract awarded to a relative of the Director-General to supply rice and other gifts for Christmas? Well, fresh accusations have it that Osei Ameyaw knowingly ordered more Christmas items than he needed, and that he sent the excess to be distributed in his Constituency (Asuogyaman) to woo delegates to support his comeback bid as Member of Parliament for the area. He is reportedly undergoing some kind of investigations on these allegations, though some deep throats have it that the investigations have been concluded but the reports have since been shelved due to some horse trading happening in political power circles.

Mr. David Lamptey himself was in the news recently in an investigative piece carried on Joy FM by Kojo Yankson. In the series of exposes, it came to light that Mr. Lamptey had collected GHc 150,000.00 to induce a select committee of Parliament to review Act 722 (the law governing lottery) but only paid GHc 100,000.00 to the committee, leaving GHc 50,000.00 unaccounted for, till date. Mr, Lamptey had boasted in some friendly quarters that he was instrumental in the removal of Mr. Kojo Yankson from the Morning Show at JOY FM because he felt humiliated by the 'intrusiveness' of Mr. Yankson. Could Mr. Lamptey be the reason for Mr. Yankson's removal from taken off the Morning show ? We will look into this in part 2 of these investigative reports.

David had allegedly boasted to one of our team members that he was at Makola (School of Law) with Osei Ameyaw and that they understood themselves very well in whatever they did. He had also boasted about his ability to 'control things' at the registry of the High Court. We will be looking into these extensively.

David Lamptey, who was recently seen driving his latest acquisition, a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser 4X4 was suspended a few months ago ahead of being sent packing to the State Enterprises Commission where there is hardly anything for him to do. A dignified exit to no man's land. In our public Service, such “dignified exits” are given to officers who should have hither to been sacked for incompetence, malfeasance and other administrative lapses.

Yours truly is however still unsure which of the many alleged infractions led to David Lamptey's suspension and eventual 'sack' but views collated from within the Authority have it that it could be any or a combination of the following;

1. His constant undermining of the Director-General and the lack of proper reporting on legal matters involving the NLA. It is rumoured he deliberately concealed details of his work from his boss who is himself a lawyer.

2. His handling of Board issues and matters arising when he was recently made Secretary to the current Board; he was Secretary to the previous Board and was allegedly axed due to unethical and unprofessional conduct. According to a former Board Member, he was given additional responsibilities as a guise to moving him from the role.

3. His inability to account for, or refund the GHc 50,000.00 outstanding from the much talked about 'Parliamentary bribery' scandal and his lack of candour in matters arising thereof.

4. His poor handling of a law suit with MTN. The NLA lost, David led the NLA to appeal but lost again. It is rumoured that his Bar license had even expired when he filed the appeal.

5. His poor handling of a suit filed 5years ago against the NLA by a former IT Director. Addresses were filed by both parties 7 months ago and judgement was to be delivered on November 12th 2018 by Justice Laurenda Owusu. Mysteriously nothing has been heard since.

6. His poor handling of matters arising from another law suit from 3 NLA employees who are alleging wrongful termination. It is alleged that the Director-General had promised to settle this case out of court, but more than a year later, nothing has been heard from him.

7. Numerous complaints against David, his conduct and candour by his colleagues and other subordinates.

What is even more baffling is that, aside David Lamptey and the Director-General, the NLA has 2 other lawyers on its pay role including George Addo-Yobo and Afumwaa Bruce yet the Authority has constantly engaged external solicitors at exorbitant fees. More on this in subsequent publications.

We can confirm there is bad blood between the Director-General and the man posted from the Presidency to be his Deputy. Rumours have it that this 'beef ', coupled with the lack of understanding of the lottery business and frequent unnecessary travels are partly to blame for the losses and missed opportunities at the Authority. In an unrelated twist, a cross section of employees have expressed the desire to leave the Authority due to what they claim is the unconventional style of Osei Ameyaw and the toxic, politically charged environment which has allowed favouritism, cronyism and nepotism to thrive. Accusing fingers are being pointied at the Head of HR and Administration, one Fiifi Amissah who we understand had just come back from a suspension of his own. We are working around the clock to speak with some current and ex-employees as well as get a better understanding of how some junior staff members within the NLA became Senior staff members overnight. One such promotions to a lady (name withheld) is causing a lot of angst due to her closeness to the Director-General.

Our calls to Mr. Lamptey's known telephone number for his side of the story were not answered, neither has he returned those calls. Maybe his encounter with Kojo Yankson has taught him to flee journalists. That said however, it will be fair to hear from him as we unravel more in the coming days. Mr Osei Ameyaw on the other hand has been out of the country most of the time, making it very difficult to reach him. In any case, we will welcome their responses or rejoinders to shed better light on what is happening at the NLA if indeed there are any corrections to be made to our reportage.

In our next publication, Part 2 of 4, we will bring you more revelations from some of the parties involved in the issues mentioned above as well as delve into some of these court cases with all the major players involved. There is a lead on an external Law Firm Mr. Lamptey had used in some of these court cases and how cases were dragged out unnecessarily for payments to this Law Firm to be guaranteed for a long time. There are other questions that need to be answered on whether Mr. Lamptey and other Directors at the Authority work with some level of supervision or are laws onto themselves.