Richard Ebbah Obeng, one of the sacked Deputy CEO’s of the National Youth Authority(NYA) has denied his complicity in the scandal that triggered the dismissal of the trio by President Akufo-Addo.
A statement issued by the dismissed Deputy CEO thanked the President for the opportunity offered him to serve in the public entity, but also denied any wrongdoing in the alleged procurement breaches.
“I wish to thank President Akufo-Addo for giving me the opportunity to serve the youth of our country. For the sake of the record, I wish to state that I have no hand in the recently reported procurement violations at NYA.” aspects of the statement by Mr. Obeng noted.
Explaining further, Mr. Obeng said: “As the Schedule Officer responsible for approving payment vouchers, I REFUSED to ever approve any payments intended to that company( Prefos). I did not approve the over one million and eight hundred thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC 1.8 million). I actually stopped the payment voucher covering that transaction and locked it up. It is still in my possession. As to why and how that Cheque was written in spite of the Payment Voucher blockade, I leave it to the team of investigators and possibly prosecutors.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Obeng in his statement believes he’ll eventually be vindicated at the end of the investigations launched into the case, adding “I pray that investigation is speedily carried out to serve justice to all who stood for the right things and punish those who in a blatant way dented the image of this government with this matter.”
President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday sacked the CEO of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Emmanuel Sin-nyet Asigri, and his two deputies, Mr. Richard Ebbah Obeng and Bright Acheampong.
The three were found complicit in some alleged procurement breaches at the authority.
“I regret to inform you that the President of the Republic has terminated your appointment,” the sports minister Isaac Asiamah who has oversight responsibility on the Authority said in their termination letters.
“Please ensure that you hand over and cease to act” not later than close of business on Wednesday, 4th September, 2019, the termination letter dated Tuesday, September 3, 2019 said.
A few weeks ago, a member of the board of the Authority Arnold Boateng resigned over what he termed as “real issues.”
Background
The Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, last Friday ordered Mr. Asigri to step aside over a petition brought before her against the CEO for engaging in questionable procurement practices.
The Public Procurement Authority has reportedly being asked to investigate the allegations against Asigri.
Procurement breaches
The NYA chair, Francisca Oteng, confirmed one procurement in which the CEO had allegedly breached procedures, awarding the said contract without the knowledge of the board, the Daily Statesman reports.
This matter was referred to the PPA last month to investigate. The PPA assigned a team of investigators to gather information on it.
The NYA board acted following receipt of a petition from one Ibrahim Ofori alleging corruption relating to procurement. The board met to confer on the matter on July 2 2019.
The NYA chair followed this up with a letter to the Minister of Youth and Sports on July 10.
Criminal investigations?
In contention is the procurement method used to engage Prefos Ltd for training 500 young people o instal, maintain and repair streetlights. The value of the procurement in question is GHS4.5 million.
Security officials will look to the PPA investigation to determine whether the matter should be reported to the Ghana Police Service’s Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.