Volta Minister, Dr Letsa Addressing assembly members of Akatsi North
Municipal and District Assemblies in the Volta Region have been found to be some of the most corrupt institutions in the country.
According to the Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Letsa, the Auditor General’s report on the various assemblies in the region was nothing good to write home about.
The regional minister said that men and women who had been educated with the taxpayers’ money supervised such rot at the assemblies.
The Minister, who was unhappy with the development, could not fathom why technocrats, most of whom are supposed to be role models to the young ones, would allow such bad practices to fester in the various assemblies.
The Tour
The Regional Minister made the observation when he interacted with assembly members, officials and heads of departments and agencies in Akatsi North, Ketu North and Ketu South during an ongoing tour of all the Municipal and District Assemblies in the region.
The tour is to give the minister and some key regional directors the opportunity to get first-hand information about the challenges of the assemblies, explain government projects and programmes and seek the support of assembly members, officials, chiefs and people in transforming the respective districts and municipalities.
Poor Performance of Volta Assemblies
Touching on the abysmal performance of the region in the districts league table, the Minister said that the region placed ninth and 10th in the tables released in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
The Kpando District, which placed first in the region in the 2016 report, interestingly placed 52 out of 216 Municipal and District assemblies ranked in the country.
North Tongu placed 216 in the last national ranking.
Dr Letsa said that the Akufo-Addo administration was not in power at the time the last league table was released but attributed the poor performance of the assemblies to poor leadership, dishonesty, greediness and bad financial practices, among others.
Corruption at the Assemblies
He wondered why assemblies with qualified staff like finance officer, planning officer, internal auditor, revenue officer, assembly members and committees would disburse moneys without supporting documents.”
He said although many have blamed politicians for the many corrupt practices within the various assemblies, it was clear that the technocrats, civil servants and assembly members were deeply involved in many malpractices and financial malfeasance.
Dr. Letsa said, “I am aware that some of the assembly officials have their own companies, so the finance officer, budget officer, procurement officers and all other officers have their own companies. They give contracts to themselves, supervise their own contracts and pay themselves for delivering shoddy works.”
According to the Minister, he recently blocked the illegal disbursement of GH¢32,000 from an assembly after he received information from a whistle blower.
“The officers involved came to my house to beg and promised not to do that again.”
He however failed to disclose whether he handed them over to the Police or not.
Corrupt Officials to be Dealt With
He therefore warned the assembly officials not to misappropriate funds for their assemblies, saying, “District Assembly Common Fund, District Development Fund, Internally Generated Fund and all kinds of Municipal and District Money are not for private pockets.”
“If you are interested in contracts and assembly money, resign and join the private sector. Go and be a contractor, because such shameful acts will not be countenanced under my leadership and that of the Nana Akufo Addo’s government. If you are caught, you will not be spared. Any auditor’s report that comes to my table with any malfeasance will be handed over to the security agencies.”
He also appealed to the assembly members, staff, chiefs and the Municipal and District Chief Executives (DCEs) to work together to tackle the malpractices and transform the region.
(k.duodu@yahoo.com)
From Fred Duodu, Ave-Dakpa, Dzodze and Denu