Cabinet approved 200k for Kundum festival bash

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Former Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Catherine Afeku has maintained that the Gh 200,00 cash which was cited by the Auditor General’s 2018 report as being misapplied was duly approved by Cabinet to enable her expended on the Kundum Festival Celebration bash.

According to her there are millions of cedis cited by the Auditor General’s report and just a common 200k was no money that needed to be given the attention by the media and she feels ashamed to be given the attention.

The former Minister for Tourism was cited by the Auditor General’s report for misapplication and diversion of Marine Drive Project funds for Kundum Festival Celebration from September 1 -9, 2018, but in her defense on an Accra based Angel 102.9 on Wednesday, September 1, 2021 morning show said that the money was duly approved by Parliament and she has the documents to prove her claims.

“Nana Yaa Brefo, the 200k money was duly approved and captured by Cabinet for the Kundum Festival Celebration and will be sending you the documents to back my claims” Madam Catherine Afeku stressed.

Her response and new twist to her defence come in the wake of the press release from Paramount Chief of Lower Axim Traditional Council Awulae Attibrukusu III distancing himself from bearing witness to her expenses on the Kundum festival jam bash claim and his subsequently being granted interview on Angel FM last Wednesday.

Madam Afeku also used the Angel FM platform to unreservedly apologise for the embarrassments that her actions may have caused the chiefs and people of Nzema.

It could be recalled that Madam Catherine Afeku in her interview granted to an Accra based Citi FM on August 20, 202, disclosed that the 200k money cited to have been misapplied and should be refunded had already been paid back, while on Peace FM entertainment show also an Accra based FM station on Saturday, August 21, 2021, twisted the issue by saying that the money used on the Kundum Festival Celebration had already been expended and cannot be refunded.

” The money has already been spent and can’t be refunded: ‘Sika no Ashii'” she said live on air.

Madam Afeku who was once a former Member of Parliament for Evalue Ajomoro Gwira Constituency has recently come under pressure where chiefs from her jurisdiction came out to disassociate themselves from knowing or witnessing the expenditure of the 200k money cited by the Auditor General’s report, where during her Citi FM interview said that the Paramount Chief of Lower Axim Traditional Area Awulae Attibrukusu III was aware and a witness to the expenditure of the money on Musicians she claims to have engaged to perform during the 2018 Axim Kundum Festival Celebration.

She also added that the chiefs of Nsein and Nkroful were all witnesses since part of the 200k were spent on their respective festivals, a claim which had been denied flatly by these chiefs of having known nothing about her claim.

In his view, the chief of Nkroful in the Ellembelle District Nana Kwasi Kutuah IV denied ever partnering or witnessing any Kundum Festival Celebration being organised and sponsored by Madam Catherine Afeku, since according to him, ever since she assumed the position as a minister and during her tenure as Mp for Evalue Ajomoro Gwira Constituency has never honoured nor supported the Kundum of Nkroful which is organised in October each year.

On his, the Paramount Chief of Nsein Traditional Council Awulae Agyefi Kwame II in a press conference held on Wednesday 25th August, 2021 denied every being a beneficiary nor a witness to the 200k money cited by the Auditor General’s report and challenged her to come out with her evidence to prove him wrong.

The Paramount Chief of Lower Axim Traditional Council Awulae Attibrukusu III also in a press release issued on August 30, 2021, disassociated himself and the traditional council of ever being witnesses to her claim of even thanking her for such showmanship.

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