The Herald’s follow up into the purchase of the luxury iPhones by the Bulk Oil Transportation Company Limited (BOST) has landed who and who got the expensive devices.
The iPhones 13 Pro Max, priced at Two Hundred and Eighty-Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Twelve Ghana Cedis, Sixteen Pesewas (GHS285, 412.16) were shared amongst the General Managers and the Board of Directors of BOST, who were labeled as “critical officers of the company”.
All eight board members are mentioned to have gotten some of the eighteen (18) iPhones. They collect sitting allowances and are billed for fat ex-gratia when their four-year tenure runs out.
On the board is Dr Nana Ayew Afriye, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Effiduase-Asokore Constituency in the Ashanti Region on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Many are outraged at him for also collecting the phone.
A statement from the state-owned company claimed that, “the result so far attest to the efficiency of the systems put in place, which includes the access points for key members of the team to access processed information for efficient decision making”.
The board is chaired by Ekow Hackman, an in-law of Gabby Asare-Otchere Darko, who is having his second stint on the board. This means, this is not the first time he is getting a phone from BOST. He spends time defending everything management does most times to the chagrin of the workers.
One Francisca Aba Addison got, Joyce Agyeman Attafuah believed to be the wife the National Identification Authority boss Prof. Ken Agyeman Attafuah, also got her share.
Prof. Kofi Osei Akuoko, Emmanuel Tandoh, Edwin Provencal, who is the Managing Director (MD) of BOST, also got his. Lawyer Bright Okyere-Adjekum ESQ and Oheneba Owusu Afriyie IV, known in private life as Kwadwo Kankam, the Apagyahene of Kumasi Traditional Council, also got their share.
BOST, had denied earlier reports that quoted the Auditor General that Twenty Eight Million, Five Hundred and Forty-One Thousand, Two Hundred Sixty One Ghana Cedis was spent on the iPhones 13 Pro Max “the total cost of the phones stood at Two Hundred and Thirty-Four Thousand Ghana Cedis (234,000.00) grossed up for taxes at Two Hundred and Eighty-Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Twelve Ghana Cedis, Sixteen Pesewas (GHS285, 412.16).
The statement was issued in the name of the Corporate Communications and External Affairs Department.
It said “the reason for the purchase of the device was to equip the team to stay in touch with the management information and business intelligence systems of the company for efficient decision making”.
The statement issued on Saturday, September 30, 2023, said the error occurred due to the placing the decimal point two steps to the right of the actual figure.
It indicated that the amount was captured in the financial report of the company.
It added that, the report has been audited by the Auditor General and the decision has been vetted without any adverse findings made about the same.
BOST, however, observed that there was an error with the placement of the dot in the amount as typed in the report.
“The Twenty-Eight Million, Five Hundred and Forty-One Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty-One Ghana Cedis (GHS28, 541,261.00) in the report may be due to a typographical error of placing the dot (.) two steps to the right which on the face of the document converted the GHS285,412.61 to GHS28,541,261.00.
“The public is hereby entreated to ignore the claim that the company bought eighteen (18) phones at 28 million.
“It is both erroneous and mischievous.”
It justified the purchase of the phones, saying it is “to equip the team to stay in touch with the management information and business intelligence systems of the company for efficient decision making”.
The company urged its stakeholders to reach out to the Corporate Communications Department for any clarification before proceeding to make such statements which in the end could amount to misleading the public.
“The public is hereby entreated to ignore the claim that the company bought eighteen (18) phones at 28 million. It is both erroneous and mischievous”.
