(ASSEMBLY MEMBER FOR GOVERNMENT RESIDENTIAL ELECTORAL AREA – Wa Municipal Assembly)

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to put forward some worrying issues which for some time now have retarded the progress of the Wa Municipal Assembly. The issues being raised here today have begged for non-existent attention from the constituted Assembly and Management of the Wa Municipal Assembly, and I wish to draw the attention of the public who are the core beneficiaries of the Assembly’s activities and programmes. Persons in authority have thrown the public interest to the dogs in pursuit of their self interests and egos which are very detrimental to the general good of the Municipality. We certainly cannot continue to watch things this way without putting same in the full glare of the people we represent and in respect of whom we hold resources in trust. May I catalogue the issues as follows;

ABUSE OF THE DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT FUND (DDF)

In 2007, the Government of Ghana as part of its efforts to improve the performance of the District Assemblies in terms of efficiency, accountability and delivery of basic community services has introduced a performance base grant system. Under the system, the District Assemblies are assessed on agreed indicators on a yearly basis using the Functional Organisational Assessment Tool (FOAT). Assemblies that perform well in the FOAT assessment are rewarded with financial resources from the District Development Facility (DDF). Some of the essential Minimum Conditions (MCs) required to assess the grant include adherence to Financial Management and Accounting regulations, and Public Procurement procedures.

It is however sad to note that, in September last year the way and manner funds were released and employed under the DDF in respect of a capacity building for zonal councils members and revenue collectors leaves much to be desired.
In particular,

1. Zonal councils which were the primary target for the training, as at the date scheduled for the workshop were not constituted, and the said beneficiaries were non-existent. The Finance and Administration Subcommittee (F&A), having realized this lapse, intervened and advised management to suspend the said training until the appropriate zonal councils were constituted. Unfortunately, management disregarded our advice and went ahead to carry out the training, but apparently for the ‘wrong’ people.

2. Following this, an extraordinary meeting was convened whereupon the MCE apologized for fouling the procedures and not heeding to the committee’s advice. The committee thus directed that management was to ensure that the councils were properly constituted, and the consultant recalled to carry out the training (at same cost), and report back to it. Unfortunately, this directive has not been complied with, while the F&A subcommittee remain mute over the matter.
3. Participants for the said capacity building workshop were arbitrarily and hastily selected for the sake of getting people to sit in for the training rather than persons who needed the training for the discharge of their duties for the benefit of the Assembly. Some selected Unit committee members were called to an ‘emergency meeting’ to inform them about the training. The question then was what made an over-month-long planned workshop an emergency to give rise to an emergency meeting to select participants? Clearly the consultant had not carried out any needs assessment of target beneficiaries, and one wonders what kind of training gaps were being filled by the training.

4. Another twist of the matter was that, as at the date of the training the Municipal Assembly had released about GHC 39,000 out of the total amount of GHC 63,542 as the Consultant fees i.e. over 50% of the entire contract sum to the consultant for no work done, contrary to what the consultants proposed and requested for under their terms of payment. The terms of payment were explicit, and required the Assembly to pay to the consultant, 10% upon signing the contract, 70% on submission of draft report, and the remaining 20% on submission of the final report. What was the motivation of management to dole out such a huge sum of money to the consultant?

5. As at the date the F&A subcommittee objected to the training, there were revelations that payments made to the consultant were not passed through the internal audit unit for verification and authentication of the expenditure. Vouchers for such payments were not entered in the payment vouchers register, which contravenes the Financial Administration Regulations. Why had management decided to pre-finance the said training, if they had no vested interest in the deal? The F&A had cause to believe that, there were serious ‘under dealings’ with respect to the said contract, and calls for an immediate investigation into the processes leading to the award of the said contract to the consultant. This call did not see the light of day.

6. The F&A subcommittee, with the believe that these amounted to breaches and violations of the Local Government Act, the Procurement Act, the Financial Administration Regulations, Internal Controls and Administrative Procedures, The Internal Audit Agency Regulations, The Financial Memoranda for DAs, etc. kept on record, and disassociated itself from these regrettable irregularities being carried out by the Assembly.


ILLEGALITY PERPETUATED AT WA CENTRAL MARKET

In very recent past, a very worrying and destructive development hit the Wa Municipality. Unapproved allocations of spaces on the ‘Big’ Drainage/ Gutter running from Jengbeyiri through the Central Market to Kambali are made to people to construct slaps across the gutter to enable them to erect structures (containers) as shop outlets. The nagging issues here include:

7. Gross Disregard of Procedure: - By an Executive Committee resolution of the Wa Municipal Assembly (last Assembly 2008 and this current Assembly) on this drainage/ gutter, all slaps constructed on the drainage to put temporary structures (containers) were to be demolished immediately. However, instead of management ensuring that this resolution was complied with and executed, it was sad to note that the Municipal Chief Executive together with some elements from the Assembly disregarded the resolution, and went ahead to allocate more spaces for people to construct more of such structures. In particular, these fresh allocations were duly supervised by the Municipal Chief Executive, the Presiding Member and some Assembly members. I think the actions of the MCE and the Presiding Member amount to gross abuse of their discretional powers, and must be called to order.

This unfortunate act of the Assembly in my opinion amounts to reckless perpetuation of an illegality, which puts people’s lives and property at great risk.

8. Shameful extortion of money: - Another twist of the matter is what I describe as the shameful extortion of money from poor market women by a clique of officers and Assembly members. The Municipal Buildings Inspector or his representative (i.e. Abdullah) on one hand, and some two Assembly members on the other hand, (in the persons of Hon. Tamah – for Fongu Electoral Area, and Hon. Rashid (a.k.a Gasper) – for Jengbeyiri Electoral Area are alleged to be directly involved in this extortion. They operate as separate teams, collecting money from these poor traders, who are mainly women, ranging between GHC 300 to GHC 450; and account if at all, only GHC 100 to the Assembly. Receipts are seldom issued for cash collected, and in some cases, one person may be given a receipt for a piece of space to be shared with one or two other people who have also paid for the same piece of space.

9. Consequent to this shameful extortion of money, a three member ad hoc committee was set-up from the F&A subcommittee to carry out some preliminary investigations in respect of the extortions, and the issues gathered were very distasteful. Out of 53 women who paid monies between the ranges given above sampled, only 20 of them were issued with receipts covering just GHC 100 each. However, people’s selfish and parochial interests have not permitted these issues to be discussed and addressed, even at the General Assembly. The Wa Municipal Assembly needs its integrity and dignity, which have been put in tatters by these goofs, to be restored.

10. A call was made to state anti graft agency, EOCO to investigate into these issues raised to curtail further damage and financial loss to the Assembly seems to fall on death ears. I am particularly surprised and worried about the continued silence over this issue, even from the EOCO since October, 2011.


GRAND PLAN TO CONCEAL FRAUD
11. I recall several and serious media reportage on this Storm Drain being discussed here, particularly on the Ghanaweb news, the Daily Graphic, Joy FM, Accra and Radio Progress, Wa. And in the wake of these media reports and public agitations, the Assembly was prompted to constitute a six (6) member committee to investigate into the causes and circumstances of complaints over the development of the storm drain at the Wa central market and subsequently report to the Assembly. The committee was mandated to submit its report within one week, from 10th November, 2011. Unfortunately the committee was not able to meet the deadline and an additional one week was given to the committee.

12. It is over six months today and nothing has been heard or seen about the committee’s work. It is obvious that the committee has completed its work, what then is keeping the committee from laying its report formally before the house for interrogation? In my opinion six months was even too much a time period for any type of committee to do an investigation, and it apparently clear by the conduct of the MCE, and the Presiding Member that, the report is being swept under the carpet.

13. Meanwhile, people indicted in this saga do not want to see or hear of any of these issues being discussed. They are bent on concealing the truths. Intelligence gathered so far suggests that, the Presiding Member is considering taking off some portions from the committee’s report and to ‘window’ dress it. May I caution him that due attention is on him, and the Assembly will not accept anything below the belt as investigation report.

14. The storm drain saga is a matter of great concern and worry to every Assembly member and any attempt to conceal and still perpetuate the act will be resisted. Why does the leadership of the Assembly seem not interested in discussing the committee report? Let me also caution that, justice delayed is justice denied, and we shall stop at nothing in the pursuit for justice!

15. It is interesting to note that, barely a week ago at the First Ordinary Meeting of the Second Session of the Wa municipal Assembly held on the 25th and 26th of April, 2012, Hon. Salifu Tamah who is one of the key persons implicated in this whole storm drain saga, rudely obstructed discussions on questions duly submitted to the General Assembly and went unrebuked. His conduct at the said meeting left much to be desired of an Honourable member. He blatantly rained insults on colleague Assembly members and almost threw the session into anarchy. It was very obvious and typical of him that, he wanted to make nonsense of the issues being tabled for interrogation.

16. Once again, we are calling on your good judgment, and appropriate interventions to nib in the bud these unproductive developments, and any person found culpable be brought to book. In the same vein, we are calling on state anti graft agencies to expedite action and investigate thoroughly into these issues raised to curtail further damage and financial loss to the Assembly.

Thank you very much for your audience.

ISSUED IN WA THIS 3RD DAY OF MAY, 2012

SIGNED:……………………………………
Alhassan Suleman
Assembly Member, Government Residential Area

020 – 7377860 / 0244 - 225741