Elvis Afriyie Ankrah
Police in the Bawku Municipality are investigating how the Garu-Tempane District Co-ordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Development Agency (GYEDA), Richard Azumah, allegedly diverted a total of about GH¢200,000 from the official account of the organisation into a dummy account for his personal spending.
The police are also investigating a similar case where the Bawku Municipal Co-ordinator, Philip Ayamba, also allegedly kept forging the signature of a former accountant of the office, to withdraw a total of GH¢400,000.
This brings to a total of GH¢600,000, being monies allegedly embezzled.
GYEDA, formerly known as National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), is currently being investigated by the Ministry of Youth and Sports for unbridled corruption.
While the two allegedly enjoyed the booty, the workers worked on empty stomachs as they had not been paid for over six months. The GYEDA office in Garu-Tempane and Bawku kept blaming central government for not releasing funds to pay the workers.
Richard Azumah and Philip Ayamba have been granted bail while they assist the police in their investigation.
Also on bail is an accountant with the BESFA Rural Bank at Garu, who allegedly assisted the Garu-Tempane GYEDA co-ordinator to open and operate a dummy account at BESFA Rural Bank.
The manager of the Rural Bank is reported to have stumbled on the GYEDA dummy account and the level of injustice done to the workers engaged under the agency.
He is said to have called for the arrest of the accountant, leading to the arrest of the Garu-Tempane GYEDA boss.
Eyewitnesses told DAILY GUIDE that the police at Bawku arrested Richard Azumah and Philip Ayamba and the BESFA accountant in connection with fraud.
Unfortunately, none of these institutions want to talk to the DAILY GUIDE about the case.
A source close to the BESFA Rural Bank told DAILY GUIDE that, the co-ordinator and the accountant exhibited a high level of creativity and tact in managing the dummy account for which reason they operated it dubiously until their cups were full with the GH¢200,000.
A source at the GYEDA office at Bawku also told DAILY GUIDE that when the alarm blew on the alleged dubious deals of the co-ordinator, a former accountant of GYEDA, now with the National Health Insurance, was also arrested by the police at Bawku and later, after investigations, it was revealed that the former GYEDA accountant had no hand in the withdrawal of beneficiaries’ monthly salaries.
The Bawku GYEDA Co-ordinator was alleged to have forged the signature of the former accountant, who was a signatory at the time he was with GYEDA.
The Garu-Tempane Co-ordinator, Richard Azumah, was accused of diverting funds meant for the payment of people employed under the programme into a private account, thereby denying the workers their monthly salaries.
A source at GYEDA at Garu told DAILY GUIDE Mr Azumah opened a different account with the same GYEDA name at the rural bank but with different number and succeeded in diverting the monthly salaries of beneficiaries into it without authorisation.
This dubious practice rendered the original GYEDA account empty, while the dummy account received all the money that came to the Garu-Tempane district in the name of GYEDA.
It is an open secret that all is not well at almost all of the GYEDA offices across the Upper East Region.
Many are of the view that GYEDA co-ordinators are enjoying the sweat of the workers, especially when workers under the Agency keep growing lean and poorer, while GYEDA co-ordinators grow well and acquire big and flashy properties within a short period.
From: Ebo Bruce-Quansah