Five persons are being held by the Volta Regional Police Command in connection with the alleged diversion of food items of Peki Senior High School in the South Dayi district to appease an auditor.
The five include the driver who was initially arrested with the food items and the School’s bursar and an internal auditor of the Ghana Education Service (GES) who turned themselves in last Friday evening, January 10, 2020.
Public Relations Officer of the Command, Corporal Prince Dogbatse, who confirmed the development said investigations have commenced and that more people might also be invited or arrested to assist with the process.
He added that the trio who have access to their lawyers were yet to be granted bail.
He was optimistic that they might be arraigned before court to remand them in Police custody so as not to jeopardise the investigations.
The five have been detained over allegations that they, together with the school’s headmaster filled the school’s Ford pickup truck with registration number, GR-9402-Z with food items destined for the house of the auditor in Ho, the Regional capital.
The items which is estimated to cost thousands of Ghana cedis and feed about 200 students for a whole week include, bags of rice, bags of maize, cartons of milk, cartons of tomato paste, two 2.5 litre gallons of oil, school’s branded stationery among others.
The items were intercepted by the Deputy Regional Minister, Johnson Avuletey together with some task force at Sokode-Lokoe near Ho. They followed the driver to the house of the auditor at Dome in Ho, reloaded the items onto the truck and handed it over to the Police.
The Deputy Minister who said he was acting on the information provided by informants said the bust confirmed rumours and complaints about diversion of resources meant for students to private interests.
He therefore warned the school heads in the region to desist from such acts because when they were caught, the law will deal with them. He said, “It is a warning; this is just the beginning. If they venture, they will regret. They are there to push the interest of the government. All that Akufo-Addo is doing now, it is for the betterment of this country, so I see no reason why a group of people will come together to sabotage the president. I’m giving them a warning; they should sit up otherwise this region will be on fire.”
He also encouraged teachers and other staff of the various schools to continue to feed the authorities with information of persons sabotaging the system adding that they will be well protected and rewarded.
From Fred Dudou, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo.com)