Stephen Twum, former Acting Director of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) in the Birim Central municipality, is currently in the grips of the Akyem-Oda District police in the Eastern Region for allegedly breaking and changing the locks of the agency’s office.

DSP Samuel Ntosoh, Oda police commander who confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE, said Mr. Clement Attafuah, the monitoring and evaluation officer of the agency, came to the station to report that he was out of town when he had information from one of the staff that Mr. Stephen Twum had been to the office, forcibly broken into the office and replaced all the locks to the office.

It’s unclear what impelled the former YEA branch manager to undertake such a move, though the items in the office were intact, but the staff were yet to check if any of the vital documents in the office had been tampered with.

Mr. Stephen Twum, the former acting municipal director, was transferred by the agency and replaced by Aaron Donkoh when a court injunction on the mass transfers under the aegis of the YEA Chief Executive Officer, Justin Kodua, indicated that all transferred staff of the agency should report back to work.

According to reports, Mr. Stephen Twum refused to report on the appointed date but came back on a later date with several excuses.

Mr. Clement Attafuah told DAILY GUIDE that when he came back, “we welcomed him and were working with him peacefully and cordially” only for him to go to the office “one morning, broke into the office and changed the keys to the office.”

A letter sighted by the paper dated 22nd June, 2015, addressed to Mr Twum, under the signature of Kwabena Owusu Akyeampong, former acting executive director of the agency and copied to the offices of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, EOCO, CID, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Auditor General, Chairperson of PSC and several others, stated in part, “…amongst others, the External Auditors discovered that you were UNILATERALLY added to the migrated list by Mr. Selasie Attipoe-Fittz (DNC-Human Resource Manager) CONTRARY TO APROVED GUIDELINES as you were a beneficiary on the Better Ghana Management Service (BGMS) or Beneficiary Payroll.

“The audit service also found out that as an unqualified staff, you were paid an amount of GH¢22,812.59 for the period. Considering the potential criminality involved in your dealings with the agency, it is in your own interest to reply to these queries by Friday, 26th June, 2015.”

Stephen’s reaction

Mr. Stephen Twum, who is on police enquiry bail, confirmed to DAILY GUIDE that he broke the doors of the office, and indicated that it was not the first time that he had changed the locks to the office and could not understand the farce and drama about the whole thing.

“When I took over from the former director, I changed the keys; whenever people break into our wash room, I change the keys, so I do not see anything really wrong with changing the keys,” he explained.