Tarzan`s shady deals unveiled,
...Architect accuses him of by-passing procedure

By George Kyei Frimpong, Thursday, October 08, 2009

The Managing Director of Amalgamated Designs Ltd, Mr. Kamel Noshie, yesterday told the committee probing the Ghana@50 celebration that he abrogated his contract with the secretariat due to intimidation by Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby.

According to him, he became an object of hatred, because as a Project Design and Management Consultant for the presidential mansions and a professional architect, he insisted that Dr. Wereko-Brobby used the right procedure in making payments to contractors.

He noted that because he was thinking about the interest of the country, he refused to comply with directives from Dr. Wereko-Brobby, who was head at Ghana@50 Secretariat, to advance ¢6 billion (25% of their mobilization fund) to Interplast and ¢5.5 billion to Superlock, for the provision of 30 doors (50%of its mobilization fund.)

He said it was not ethical to advance monies to contractors before they execute their contracts. It was also not economically viable for the country to purchase doors from Superlock, who charged about ¢92million for each door provided.

Mr. Noshie also told the commission that Dr. Wereko Brobby awarded a contract for one of the numerous projects executed by the secretariat at the cost of ¢276 million, when the same contract could have been executed at the cost of ¢66 million.

He alleged that Wereko-Brobby fired and re-engaged him several times due to his constant objection to his style of paying contractors before they execute their jobs.

He said in one of his dismissal letters, Wereko-Brobby, popularly known as ‘Tarzan’, claimed he (Nashie) was hired because he presented himself as founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), but he (Tarzan) later discovered that he had defected to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Dilating on how he became involved in the activities of the Secretariat, he said he was given an appointment letter on April 11, 2006, by the office of the President as the Project Design and Management Consultant for the presidential mansions that were put up at La Wireless and Ridge- all suburbs of Accra, to specifically design and supervise the project until completion. However, his appointment kept on changing anytime Dr. Wereko-Brobby fell out with him.

He noted that he was supposed to be paid GH¢59,000 for the Architectural/planning layout of the buildings, but Dr.Wereko-Brobby refused to pay him the money.

He referred to Dr. Wereko-Brobby as a fearful person to work with. He was, however, cautioned by Mr. Akoto-Ampaw, counsel for Dr. Wereko-Brobby, to be mindful about his statement. Nashie apologized but insisted that he was describing what he went through in the hands of his former boss.

“Dr. Wereko-Brobby used to bully me by giving me jobs that I wasn’t supposed to be doing,” he said, adding “this is the guy who had the power to fire you and hire you tomorrow, and fire you again. I later found out that I am older than him, yet he treated me like a kid.”

He denied the assertions by Mr. Akoto-Ampaw that he was bent on maligning his client, by arguing that his presence at the Commission was not based on a petition, but subpoena.

“Had it not been the subpoena, I would have let sleeping dogs lie,” he noted. Mr. Akoto-Ampaw indicated that Mr. Noshie was not paid the GH¢59,000 because he was not entitled to it.

Mr. Noshie concluded by urging the Commission to come out with a recommendation that could bring an end to a situation where absolute power could be entrusted into the hands of a single person.

The Chronicle

You Are So Pitiful: Raymond Archer Replies Wereko-Brobbey

Dear Tarzan,

I was filled with amusement as I read through your treatise to me dated October 16, 2009. My initial feeling was to fire a response to you immediately, since I found it to be very empty.

However, unlike you, as amply demonstrated in your handling of affairs when you were put in charge during the ‘year long’ Ghana @ 50 celebrations. I had my priorities right and did not allow your cleverly-worded threats push me to jump to my keyboard. I decided to do it in my own time.

Even though you did not indicate that you are copying the letter to me personally to third parties, you had your acolytes who were themselves and their families beneficiaries of the booty at Ghana@50 splash it on their front pages of their newspapers, and I could almost see you giggling like a teenager at the sight of the publications.

In the first place, you were right that the last time we ever had any interactions was in Europe, specifically, it was at Heathrow Airport in London, when I was on my way to Belgium after being nominated for the prestigious Lorenzo Natali Prize for Excellence in Journalism As it turned out, I did not win the Africa Prize, I won the Global Gold Medal. I became the first African journalist and the youngest in the history of the award to win the coveted prize bestowed on an accomplished journalists by the International Federation of Journalists.

By the way, even when I won those awards, including best Investigative journalist in Ghana for 2001/2002, it was not headline news. You surprise me, however, by saying ‘I had acknowledged and appreciated that (your) mentoring and encouragement had contributed to the recognition being given to (me).’ This is because you had never been my mentor for me to have recognized you as such. If you were my mentor, I would have disowned you long ago, during your mismanagement at VRA, your current management of Ghana@50 activities would have been only a confirmation. I am however, not surprised that even when you were chased out of VRA, you were quietly squatting at the Ministry of Finance as advisor on budget.

But why should I be surprised? After all, when Dr. Richard Anane was chased out of Government by the Commission on Human and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the then President, Mr. Kufuor kept his Ministry of Transport vacant until he orchestrated his return. You cite two stories to illustrate you wish that my best days as an investigative journalist are gone. The first story you referred to, had a by-line, which I believe you saw was not in my name. I am sure you are holding me accountable to the work of my office as the Publisher and the Editor-in-Chief.

I have no qualms with you for holding me accountable for the conduct of my staff. In spite of not being the author of the said story, you cite that as the basis for describing me as suffering from an “unfortunate addiction to lying and being very economical with the truth”. Yet, when you appeared before the Commission of Inquiry (Ghana@50), you refused to take responsibility for your personal conduct and that of your staff who worked under your directives. This is just but one example of your double standards and split personality.

On a story that details how you spent thousands of dollars of Ghanaian taxpayers’ money on yourself, do you think the only response Ghanaians deserve is that you did not visit John’s Salon Moustache to trim your moustache but rather to shave other place? In any case, the documentation that you spent public cash on yourself is included in documents you yourself handed over to the transition team. It also forms part of the documentation on Ghana@50.

I have written about the skeletons of Jubilee toilets you have littered all over the place, for which contractors have not been paid, even though you claim to have a fixation for toilets and sanitation, for which reason you cited public toilets as your first priority under the $20millon allocated to you by government. Even here, you failed!

I watched you in amusement testifying before the Commission and was shocked that you, who have poured tonnes of ink on the pages of newspapers, calling public officials to order, would run with your tail in between your legs, when called upon to account for your stewardship and take responsibility for Ghana@50. Do you remember the things you said about public accountability when you established Radio Eye? That was the fact that earned you the alias Tarzan, which you seem to cherish so much, even as you demonstrate that you have abandoned the principles you claimed to uphold. You are so pitiful. “It wasn’t me”, you told the Commission and a shocked Ghanaian public, when asked what had happened to items you procured or engaged companies to supply at the expense of us taxpayers, and which were to be delivered to various parts of the country.

Not only did you shock me by not owning up for your failures, you even declared what you yourself called a ‘$36-million profit’, only to beat a retreat to say that the amount was a ‘surplus’. My little knowledge of accounts tells me that in actual fact what you presented to a respectable body such as the Commission of Inquiry could not pass for any financial statement worth its sort. You committed the Ghanaian taxpayer to ¢91.7bllion on plastic cups, (i.e. ¢75.6billion plus ¢16.1billion transportation cost). Yet you have the effrontery to deny responsibility for ensuring that the items got to the target beneficiaries but was hold to hold me accountable to a story written by one of my staff.

There is clearly something wrong with your thinking. Yesterday, fire officers looked on helplessly, as the Ministry of foreign affairs building was burnt to ashes because they did not have simple cranes to climb the building to extinguish the fire. I listened to the hopelessness of the Chief Fire Officer as he said, “there is nothing we can do about it; we don’t have the equipment”. Yet you, with all your education, chose to spend all these billions on absolutely useless expeditions, which only but brought profit to your cronies. In fact you never cease to amaze me throughout your ‘macho’ encounter with the Commission.

More especially, I could not help, but burst out laughing when I heard you appeal to the Commission to save you from a date with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Charles, that is where you belong. You were once Energy Advisor to the Government of Ghana, a former Chief Executive of the Volta River Authority (VRA), former Head of the Venture Capital fund and your last public office was as a Chief Executive of Ghana’s Gold Jubilee project.

I am therefore still trying to make meaning of your response to the Commission to look somewhere else for a letter you claimed appointed you to steer affairs at the Ghana@50 Secretariat. On your claim that I have become “intoxicated by the transient and illusory trappings of proximity to political influence” the least said about it the better. I am happy that you appreciate that no condition is permanent and that political power is but transient. Unfortunately, you and your brother-in-law conducted yourself as if political power was endless. Your boss, Mpiani was always saying, “We have the mandate! We have the mandate!”

You have lived most your adult life albeit unsuccessfully forming a political party, all in an attempt to capture political power. You are the one suffering from illusions that once you own a doctorate degree you are automatically intelligent. I have neither claimed that I am powerful, nor have I claimed to wield political power. Unlike some your favourite journalists, who are too eager to describe you as dazzling, even when the whole nation is angered by your arrogance and ineptitude, I am only an Editor-in-Chief.

Let me however warn you that don’t ever underestimate the power of The Enquirer. You do so at your peril! If I wanted political influence and power, I would have had it on a silver of platter from the most influential people in the past government. Your bosses offered it to me, but I turned it down because of what they expected in return. I have a conscience and I will die for it Thank you.

Yours truly Raymond Archer (Editor-in-chief)

Tarzan`s counsel, witness `fight` over payments


By Stephen Odoi-Larbi | Posted: Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Dr. Wereko Brobbey, CEO of Ghana@50 Secretariat

The Chronicle

Uproar over Kofi Boakye`s re-instatement


By Charles Takyi - Boadu, Thursday, October 08, 2009

The decision to either recall or sack the former Director of Operations of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kofi Boakye, became a subject of heated debate when the Police Council met at the police headquarters in Accra, yesterday.

Several hours after the meeting, which was chaired by the Vice President John Dramani Mahama, government officials including Interior Minister, Cletus Avoka, Information Minister, Zita Okaikoi, who were locked-up in a marathon meeting, and would not speak to the press.

Spokesperson for the Vice President, John Abdulai Jinapor would also not tell what had become of Kofi Boakye’s fate, long after his boss returned from the Police Council meeting, since according to him, he was waiting to be called and briefed by the Veep.

At the time of going to press around 9:00 pm yesterday, the Interior Minister, Hon. Cletus Avoka was expected to issue an official statement on the issue, which would announce the re-instatement of the former police boss.

ACP Kofi Boakye was interdicted in 2007, following the recommendations of a committee chaired by the current chief Justice, Georgina Wood, which investigated the much-publicized MV Benjamin cocaine case.

The recommendations of the same committee led to the prosecution and subsequent conviction of Kwabena Amaning, alias Tagor, and Issa Abass for their involvement in the case, but were later freed after an Appeals Court heard their case.

Though the Georgina Wood committee made recommendations for Mr. Boakye to be prosecuted, the police administration, which was then led by Inspector General of Police (IGP), Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, decided to interdict him in order to conduct further investigations.

A day before leaving office, former President Kufuor ordered the reinstatement of Kofi Boakye and ordered the police administration to pay him all his entitlements.

However, on assumption of office, the Mills administration asked the Police Chief to remain on leave, until a final determination by the Police Council.

Meanwhile, the former Deputy Director and Head of Operations at the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB), Mr. Ben Ndego, who was asked to proceed on indefinite leave after the disappearance of the MV Benjamin cocaine, has been re-instated by the government with full salary and benefits.

The Chronicle