Some Staff of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) have rubbished and exposed their Acting Executive Secretary Mr. Francis Kofi Torkornoo for lying about the current state of the organisation and shamefully praising himself despite his abysmal performance.

The Staff in a statement stated that the assertions which were compiled and given a wide publication in the media earlier was distasteful and awkward and deemed it as wrong for using the plight of the workers to gain sympathy from the presidency.

They also accused him of mismanagement, bad working human relationship as well as being vindictive and tribalistic.

Below is the full statement by the staff of NACOB

REJOINDER: NACOB GET FACELIFT- SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

The attention of the staff of Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), has been drawn to media publications by the publisher and the daily graphic on Thursday 20 December 2018 and Monday 24 December 2018 respectively under the caption “NACOB Gets Facelift”.

We, the staff of NACOB condemn such unethical, unprofessional and false publication. Indeed we are shocked and believe so that the person, Mr Kofi Torkonoo the publication seeks to push an agenda for would not be happy those publications.

In the said publications, a number of supposed achievements chalked by Mr. Francis Kofi Torkornoo (TK) the Acting Executive Secretary (AES) of NACOB was enumerated. We want to put on record that we do not hate TK, he is to be our leader: his lack of appreciation of leadership and his micromanagement style in the 21st century that we detest. As concerned staff of the organisation, we want to draw the attention of well-meaning Ghanaians and the Nana Addo Led Administrative to the failed and sad state of NACOB, the once vibrant and promising drug law enforcement organisation.

First, we want to state categorically that it’s unethical to publish the image of our facility in the media (be it old and new). The question is, what do TK and his staff officer seeks to achieve by exposing staff to such danger? Is it to lure the President to confirm his appointment? Besides, would sister organisations such as the BNI do that?. Has TK and his two apprentices forgotten that the use of billboards and signpost to give direction to our facility is not accepted because it could expose the facility to personal attacks by aggrieved drug dealers or barons who have served various degree of sentences or are in detention?

In the said publications, issues of infrastructure, logistics, sustainability, Training and the likes were erroneously projected.

Infrastructure

It is true that NACOB has painted its dilapidated headquarters, however, TK cannot take the credit for something initiated by a former Executive Secretary (Yaw Akrasi Sarpong). It is, however, pitiful that he failed to give credit where it was due. This fact can be verified from the AESL, the consultants to the project. However, the renovation has not been without one allegation of corruption, abuse of the procurement process and serious variations here or there.

However, there is a serious issue with the renovation that we want to draw the attention of the government and the office of the special prosecutor to it. Aside the main renovation which has dully gone through the procurement processes, TK has added on the expansion of his office (which was not part of the original scope of work to the project) and sublet that contract to an unknown contractor. It is in this regard that we want to flag the following:

· Who is the contractor doing the expansion works at the self-allocated office of Mr. Francis Kofi Torkornoo? Can TK, or his ‘arrogant’ accountant or his personal assistant who dub as his deputy, Mr. Ababio (three-member management) who are running the show at NACOB help us with answers

· What is the cost of that project? Our checks at AESL reveals that, they have no idea about the sub-contractor for the expansion works.

· How was the contract awarded, was it sole sourced?

· Who were those how evaluated the sole-sourced bid document?

· If it was sole-sourced, who granted the approval?

Construction of Seven Unit ‘Modern’ Kennel for detective dogs

We credit Mr Torkonoo for the seven (7) unit kennel to house the detective dogs as stated in the publication, however, it is sad to mention the health and risk the presence of the wild dogs on the crowded compound of NACOB is creating. Besides the misplaced siting of the project, what prevent TK, the Acting Executive Secretary to subject the project to the procurement process?

· Why didn’t the project go through proper procurement processes?

· How was the contractor selected?

· How was the evaluation process conducted and who did it?

· What is the cost of the project?

· How was it paid?

As concerned staff of the NACOB and Citizens of Ghana, we are calling on the AES to furnish us with further and better particulars on the red flags raised above and call on the Government to take interest in the areas flagged above.

We further ask condemned the lies thrown out there about the Elubo Border Office. The acclaimed office is a twenty (20) footer container which has been partially furnished with only one (1) desktop computer. Why would TK and his three-member management paint the picture that all is well with Elubo Post?

Again the concerned staff is calling on the AES to tell the public:

· The total cost of the office project.

· The name of the contractor.

· Whether the office project went through proper procurement process.

· Whether an evaluation process was conducted or not.

Indeed, the Acting Executive Secretary has no regard for the procurement process at all. It is no surprise that the ‘Arrogant’ Accountant, does the procurement on behalf of the organisation instead of the Procurement Unit.

Staff training

We find it very strange to accept the assertion that over 70% of staff have been trained in various capacities to move the organisation to the next level. For the past two (2) years, staff who have received training are less than 100. We there, genuinely, believe the AES said 70 staff and not the 70% the publications sort to portray.

Sadly, the TK-AES has benefitted from training programs than the lower operatives who are on the ground working. Someone who has two years to retire from the public service has attended training especially outside the country more than the combined training of all staff within the same period. In fact, we can only assume that his selfish interest is in the per diem receives travelling or that the general belief that he has no clue about drug law enforcement is compelling him to attend training now. In fact, he is building his personal Curriculum Vitae (CV) at the expense of the state. Within the twenty-two months of TK’s administration, he has travelled out of the country more than the total number of staff who travelled for courses outside.

Security Governance Initiative

Tribalism has taken a better part of our AES and because of that a group of NACOB staff who were being trained on Security Governance Initiative (SGI) to man our porous borders has been replaced with his cronies, ‘yes men people’, his praise singers and his tribes’ men.

The AES and his two other management members have not organised even one staff durbar and use that platform to outline the policies, programs and plans of management (if any). They have not even created an avenue for feedback from the operatives because AES does not believe in views of dissent. This is evident from both publications as it TK used ‘he’ (referring to himself) throughout without a mention of Management or Team. Such is he, a dictator and Micromanager, jack of all trades, in charge, operations, education, finance and administration!

Another challenge we staff face under TK is his extremely bad human relations and lack of appreciation for issues of staff welfare issues. Currently, there is serious tension between AES and supposed management team. It is worse when it comes to dealing with his deputy. Our fear is our courage, to draw the attention of well-meaning Ghanaians and the Nana Addo Led Government that if the Government sit on concern, these issues can ground the organisation which is the lead agency in the fight against drugs. We the staff wants to correct the erroneous impression that Staff are highly motivated to work is contrary to the reality on the ground.

Majority of the staff are not ready to even sacrifice one additional minute of their time to work for mother Ghana because of the bad leadership skills exhibited by the AES. This runs from the HQ through the regional commands. In fact, if we are motivated why are staff resigning every day? In fact, since June to December this year alone, over 20 officers, both junior and senior officers have resigned. It will be worse going forward. Do we know the potential implications of having well-trained officers resigning? Your guess is good as ours.

In fact, the AES has a poor working relationship with staff. He is very vindictive, has an offensive body posture, an authoritarian and arrogant like the peacock. In fact, divide and rule is one of his cardinal management principles.

He has collapsed the systems and structures in the organisation to suit his personal interest. He does not even care about staff welfare because he is bereft of ideas when it comes to managing people. Supervision is a serious challenge to the other superior officers because the systems and structures are dead.

We want to state here that, NACOB is not a sole proprietor nor a Unit within an organisation every leader needs to tolerate views of dissent. Staff with different views should not be seen as an enemy of his administration be side-lined as is being practiced.

The truth is that a little over 94.6% of staff are not happy working with Mr. Francis Kofi Torkornoo. We have credible information to prove that he is being shielded by the Ministry for The Interior. We want to appeal to the Welfare Executives to sit up and petition the President on the happenings within the organisation. The general level of apathy, low staff morale, unprecedented staff turnover, ongoing management fracas between TK and his Deputy and lack of direction of our dear organisation must be made known to the President. The silence of the Welfare Executives seems to confirm the perception that they are being compromised. We the staff are solidly behind you hence wake up from your sleep and do the needful thing for staff.

We further plead with the government to as a matter of urgent ask Mr. Francis Kofi Torkornoo to step aside with immediate effect. Anything contrary to our request, we shall surely advise ourselves. #changefranciskofitorkornoo.

GOD BLESS OUR HOMELAND GHANA

STAFF OF NACOB