The Ho Municipal Assembly has dismissed eight revenue collectors and accounts clerks for roles they played in the embezzlement of various sums of money, amounting to nearly GH¢50,000. The looting of funds, which were mainly from the internally generated fund, occurred in 2009.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Isaac Kodobisah, who disclosed this to The Chronicle newspaper at Ho yesterday, said the dismissal was based on a preliminary report issued by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that indicted the suspects, whose names are being withheld, pending the final release of the SFO report.
Mr. Kodobisah told The Chronicle that the decision to dismiss the staff before the SFO comes out with its final verdict was to prevent the suspects form falsifying documents relevant to the investigations.
The MCE regretted that whilst some of the staff were working hard to help the government achieve the ‘Better Ghana Agenda’, others had also resorted to stealing.
He alleged that apart for the embezzlement charge, the suspects also increased property rates without any authorisation, with the aim of causing disaffection for the government.
Kodobissah said he had to personally go on air to denounce the new property rate to ease the tension that was building up in the town.
Meanwhile, The Chronicle has sighted the primary SFO report, signed by the acting Volta Region Zonal Head, Mr. Victor Etu Mantey, which indicts the eight dismissed personnel of the Assembly.
According to the report, an accounts officer of the Assembly manipulated figures on PV NO. 4312108 to the tune of GH¢500, and the officer involved admitted to the offense, and refunded the money.
The report directed two other personnel of the Assembly to be held responsible for a total expenditure of GH¢37,318.60 incurred under maintenance, repairs and renewals, without going through procurement and store processes, and another GH¢5,187 be refunded, because its disbursement was irregular.
According to the report, these personnel, who formed groups of two, were to refund another GH¢625 and GH¢3,239.30 respectively. The SFO report stressed that the allegation of a royalty of GH¢230,000 paid by the Forestry Commission to the Assembly in 2008, was found to be false, but on the contrary, an amount of GH¢25,150 was paid by the Lands Commission to the Assembly in 2008.
The report also found one of the dismissed personnel guilty of misappropriating GH¢620, being revenue collected from the cemetery at Ho, and would be made to refund the money, adding that the SFO had started recovering the misappropriated monies from the accused staff.