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Parliament asked to work on
alleged malfeasance on NHIS
Accra, July 23, Ghanadot/GNA - The Committee for Joint
Action, a pressure group, has urged the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) of Parliament to work expeditiously on the
massive malfeasance contained in the Auditor General’s
Report for 2005 on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The CJA in letter addressed to the Chairman of the PAC,
urged the Committee to retrieve all the public funds
misapplied or embezzled, and deal with the financial
miscreants according to law.
The letter, signed by Mr Kwesi Pratt Junior, Convener of the
CJA, listed 14 financial irregularities, contained in the
Auditor General’s Report, a number of which contravened the
Public Procurement Act.
The CJA complained of an award of the same contract to three
different companies to monitor and review media campaign
about the NHIS.
It explained that despite Axis Advertising Company securing
the contract, the same contract, for an inexplicable reason,
was awarded to two other companies called Media Touch
Production Limited and Media Plus for a fee totalling Gh¢35,992.5.
Also, the Auditor General found that a financial consultant
of the NHIS, Mr Foster-Folson and the Scheme’s Co-ordinator,
Mr Kofi Adusei, breached the financial discipline by falsely
and illegally certifying that work contracted to Adams
Advertising, totalling GH¢227,120.4 to mount 123 billboards
nationwide had been completed when in actual fact only 19
were mounted.
Furthermore, Adams Advertising did not possess the capacity
to undertake the job, but it was awarded the contract which
they subsequently sub-contracted to another company called
Design Display and Publicity. As result the state lost GH¢29,620.6.
Referring to the Audit Report, the CJA recalled that a
Ministerial Team, set up by Dr S. A. Akor, Executive
Secretary of NHIS, Mr Ampong Darkwa and Kwasi Amo as members
overpaid themselves honorarium that was above the agreed
rate to the tune of GH¢11,220.
It said Mr Darkwa was “caught in the web of conflict of
interest when he set up a company to provide consultancy
services to MMDAs. Mr Darkwa of McKof Limited received a
total amount of GH¢133,239.6 for consultancy services.
“Mr Akwasi Amo also owns a company called Organisation and
Systems Limited, which also collected GH¢125,017.6 for
consultancy services performed for MMDAs,” the CJA said, and
wondered why Mr Darkwa was still at post at the NHIS despite
the adverse findings against him.
The CJA said the Public Procurement Act 2003 was
circumvented, when a single contract was divided into eight
separate parts to avoid competitive tendering.
“A contract for the procurement of 1.550 million campaign
brochures at a cost of GH¢211,200 was broken down into eight
separate contracts of GH¢276,006 each. This enabled the
contract to be distributed among eight companies without any
semblance of fairness, transparency and competitiveness.”
Other complaints of the CJA are that although the Government
incurred a cost of GH¢5,860 for the issuance of 17,000
copies of wall posters, they were not accounted for.
Also, theft cases of quantities of equipment from the
offices of the NHIS, despite 24 hour security cover in those
offices, were reported in addition to several cases of
maladministration which resulted in a situation where GH¢166,591
of set up funds that had been given to District and
Municipal Health Insurance Schemes were not accounted for.
In another case, although 339 officers attended a workshop,
419 officers signed to receive allowances relating to a
training programme, the excess amount of which totalled GH¢9,717.
The CJA also observed that an amount of 260,000 pounds
sterling that was awarded to the NHIS by the British
Department for International Development had not been
released by the Ministry of Health and GH¢64,600 grant
awarded to the NHIS was misapplied for other activities.
GNA
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