The Northern Development Authority (NDA) has admonished all to disregard contents of some letters directing Contractors and Suppliers of the government under the Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) to pay 5 percent of their contracts sum to support the campaign of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2020 general elections.

The NDA in a statement issued on February 19, 2020 said “the said letters are FAKE and were authored with the malicious intention of tarnishing the image of the authority and the Ag. Chief Executive Officer, Dr Alhassan Sulemana Anamzooya and should therefore be treated with disdain”.

The statement signed by the Director of Corporate Affairs and International Relations of NDA, Mr. Samson Salifu Danse disclosed that “the authoring of these fake letters and forgery of letterheard and stamp of NDA as well as the ill-conceived content suggesting fraud and unprofessionalism are strictly criminal and should be treated as such by all concerned”.

Mr. Samson said it is rather unfortunate that the Member of Parliament for the Tamale North constituency who doubles as a member of the Appointments Committee of Parliament failed to do due diligence on the authenticity or otherwise of the documents before using it in the ongoing vetting process.

The Director of Corporate Affairs and International Relations at NDA said the plethora of typographical, grammatical errors and plan logical inaccuracies also calls into doubt the authenticity of the letters.

“For instance, the Ag CEO supposedly wrote a letter addressed to himself (recipient address – 14 May, 2020 letter) and then, the said consultant by name Akamara received the same letter on 17th April, 2020 – one month before it was supposedly written” Mr. Samson wondered.

“NDA by this release is therefore distancing ourselves from the content of the supposed letters and have taken appropriate steps to ensure that the matter is thoroughly investigated and perpetrators of the crime prosecuted” the statement added.

It added that the NDA is a statutory agency of the state and as such is well aware of its mandate and professional functionality, and therefore, does not engage in any form of solicitation or fundraising for or on behalf of any political party in Ghana.