Kumasi, June 20, GNA - Mr Kwame Twumasi-Ankrah, Principal of Offinso Training College (OTC), has expressed surprise that a committee instituted to enquire into allegations of financial irregularities levelled against him, found him culpable.

He described the allegations as false and a frame-up, saying he gave satisfactory explanations to the charges and blamed the unfavourable report of the committee on his political opponents, who he accused of seeking to destroy him.

Reacting to the committee's report and recommendations in Kumasi at the weekend, Mr Twumasi-Ankrah said for instance that it was not true that he made illegal deductions from the allowances of students, explaining that no Principal in any training college could deduct money from students' allowances because they drew their allowances from the bank.

According to the Principal, an amount of 10,000 cedis being levied on students per month from the students feeding allowances on out programmes was approved by the Ghana Education Service (GES).

Mr Twumasi-Ankrah also denied knowledge of the sale of a bus donated to the College by the Parent-Teacher's Association (PTA) nor how much it was sold and where the whereabouts of the proceeds.

He said he refunded utility fees to second-year students on March 21, 2003, after he had appeared before the committee and promised to refund the 60,000 cedis per student paid by the first-year students to them.

Commenting on his transfer from the College to the Ashanti regional office of the GES, which should have been effective on June 1, 2004, Mr Twumasi-Ankrah said he asked that the transfer took during the vacation of basic schools to enable him to find placements for his children in the basic schools.

A six-man committee under the chairmanship of Mr Kwame Effah, Chairman of the Offinso District Assembly's development sub-committee, was constituted by the District Chief Executive to probe Mr Twumasi-Ankrah, following agitations for his for alleged financial irregularities.