A former Finance Minister under the Rawlings regime, Kwame Peprah has dissociated himself from the controversial Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) $66 million scandal that only ballooned to $72 million today August 24, 2017.

Mr Peprah said the approval for the purchase of the software that is generating a national furore was not done during his tenure as board chairman of the SSNIT indicating that all information regarding the said software can be found in the various memos to which he personally has copies.

In a statement issued by his aide, Justice Opoku Agyeman he stated: “Mr. Kwame Preprah’s board did not approve the payment of the said amount nor anything close to it.”

Read full text of his response below:

FROM: Justice Opoku Agyeman. Aide to Mr. Kwame Peprah (Former Board Chairman SSNIT)

SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT

It has come to our knowledge, an interview granted the immediate past board chairman of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust(SSNIT) Professor Joshua Alabi, on Citi FM, with regards to the purchase of a $66 million dollar software for the Trust.

I wish to put on record that all information regarding the said software can be found in the various memos to which Mr. Kwame Preprah personally have copies.

It is also instructive to understand that, Mr. Kwame Preprah’s board did not approve the payment of the said amount nor anything close to it.

It is on records that, by the time Mr. Kwame Preprah was exiting office, discussions were far advanced for the purchase of a software to expedite the operations of the Trust.

Prof. Alabi is on records to have said that the board Mr. Preprah chaired approved the transaction and by extension any wrong doing should be attributable to them.

Assuming without admitting that the said argument should be adhered to, doesn’t it raise serious issues bordering on integrity and competence? As a new board chairman, taking over from a previous board, what prevented you from going further after the query to stop the transaction if in the wisdom of the board, of which you were the chairman, it was wrong or smacks fraud? Now, the argument that there were clauses that tied the board to the decision of the previous board is flawed. For heaven sake, don’t we have an Attorney General’s office? Couldn’t we have referred the matter to that office for proper legal advice leading to the termination or otherwise of the transaction? Why is the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ernest Thompson, defending the contract and the immediate past chairman to the board saying otherwise?

So far as the purchase of the OBS for the trust is concerned, the board to which Mr. Kwame Preprah chaired came to an end as far back as 2012, by which time no payment has been effected.

“The board which I chaired did not approve any payment under my watch and have no idea how the payment was effected”.

“Any attempt to push blame with regards to the $66 million dollars payment will be bad fate”.

At the right time, all documents with respect to the software and in connection with the transaction relating to the purchase of the same and in his possession as one time board chairman of SSNIT, will be made available for the consumption of those who care to know.

Let our party rise above hate and pettiness.

Thank you.