Skip to main content

Rot at NSS sad - Okudzeto Ablakwa

Deputy Education Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has expressed utter shock at the magnitude of fraud uncovered by at the National Service Scheme.
He said it was unconscienable that such large sums of money have been be lost to the state through the nefarious activities of persons working for the state.
It has emerged that 23 directors of the NSS including the National Director, Alhaji Imoro Alhassan, allegedly paid GH¢200,000 as bribe to investigators of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to conceal a GH¢7.9 million financial fraud at the Scheme. Ahaji Alhassan reportedly paid GH¢100,000 in his attempt to silence investigators.
The investigations became necessary following reports that a total of GH¢7.9 million was paid to 22,612 non-existent national service persons in more than 100 districts in July 2014.

NSS Dirctor, Alhaji Imoro

Speaking on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Friday, October 3, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa described the development as “very disturbing, worrying [and] unconscionable”.
“It defeats the purpose why this national service was established,” the Deputy Minister told host of the Show, Kojo Yankson.
He said although the investigation is still ongoing “What the national security has told us is that the rot is quite deep”.
Mr. Ablakwa was baffled that such “huge” funds could find their way into individual pockets at the NSS, which is just one of the 20 agencies under the Ministry of Education at the time the government is struggling to mobilise resources to improve education in the country.
Joy News initially blew the lid off a criminal syndicate that takes advantage of National Service postings to rob the state and service persons of huge sums of money.
At that time, Mr. Ablakwa said preliminary investigations conducted by his Ministry suggested the incident was not as widespread as the report made it appear. He insisted significant amount of work had been done to ensure the postings were successful nationally.
He has now been forced to retreat from that position following the latest developments from the investigations being carried out by the National Security.
“The indication we have from the National Security is that the entire National Service Scheme is under investigation and that will include the director at the national level all the way to the district level,” he indicated.
He assured: “We will do everything possible to bring to book anybody responsible for this rot and nobody will be spared”.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Vodafone sells 45% shares in Verizon for US$130 billion

Vodafone has sold its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to US telecoms group Verizon Communications in one of the biggest deals in corporate history. The US$130 billion (£84bn) deal was announced by Vodafone after the close of trading on the London Stock Exchange. The company will return £54 billion to its shareholders, of which £22 billionn will go to shareholders in the UK. Vodafone will also invest money in its business, with funds earmarked for high speed mobile phone networks. It said that by 2017 its main five European markets would have almost complete 4G coverage. Possibly it would be wrong to carp and wring hands that Vodafone won't be paying a penny of tax to the British taxman” Vodafone group chairman Gerard Kleisterlee said: "The transaction will position Vodafone strongly to pursue our leadership strategy in mobile and unified communication services for consumers and enterprises, both in our developed markets and across our emerging markets businesses." The...

Shortage of weighing cards hit major hospitals in Accra

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express There is scarcity of Child Health Records Book (weighing cards), in some major public hospitals in the capital, information reaching the Daily Express indicates. Checks by this paper revealed that while some of the hospitals have being encountering the shortage for about a year now, others started experiencing it six months ago. In place of the Child Health Record Book (weighing card), the nursing mothers are given a single card on which information of children are recorded on it. Those hospitals identified are the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu Polyclinic, Kaneshie Polyclinic, Adabraka Polyclinic and the Ridge Hospital. At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the nursing mothers are given yellow cards in place of the weighing cards. The Public Relations Secretariat at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital said such information has not come to their notice and for that matter they cannot comment on it. “We do not have some ...

ABL launches chibuku super in Bolgatanga

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) has officially launched the Chibuku Super drink at Bolgatanga in the Upper East region with the aim of reaching a lot of customers. Mr. Thomas Nii Ponku, Supervisor in charge of Chibuku Super at ABL told Daily Express that the management decided to launch the Chibuku Super drink in the Upper East region because they’ve realized it is similar to a traditional drink in the region. “Chibuku is like a well developed pito, a traditional drink made from fermented millet or sorghum in the Northern part of Ghana. So the idea is to provide them with similar drink,” he added. Mr. Nii Ponku disclosed this when members of the Institute of Finance and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) toured the facility of ABL to acquaint themselves with the expansion project at the factory. He mentioned that after a feasibility study, they realized there is a potential market for the product in the northern part of Ghana ...