The Finance Director for Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), David Abbam Adjei, has accused Fidelity Bank of violating the terms of their agreement concerning a five million Ghana cedis loan for the continuation of the abandoned Krofrom Market project initiated by former President John Agyekum Kufour’s administration.
According to the finance director, the agreement stipulated that KMA, would request GH¢5 million from Fidelity Bank and if approved, the bank was supposed to pay the money directly into KMA’s account, and KMA, would then disburse the funds as needed.
The Finance Director, also attributed the failure to pay off a debt owed to Fidelity Bank to the KMA boss, Samuel Pyne poor handling of the Krofrom Market project.
David Adjei, stated that the loan agreement between KMA and Fidelity Bank, amounting to Ghc5 million for the continuation of the Krofrom Market project, had reached its payment deadline. However, delays from the Mayor, led the bank to invoke the collateral agreement
However, Adjei stated that the former Chief Executive of KMA, Osei Assibey Antwi, wrote a letter to Fidelity Bank, instructing them to pay an additional GH¢ 3 million directly to the contractor.
Osei Assibey Antwi, now heads the National Service Secretariat.
The KMA’s director of Finance, had emphasized that nowhere in the agreement did it state that, Fidelity Bank, should pay the GH¢ 5 million loan facility into a contractor’s account.
“What we instructed them was that they should pay it into KMA’s account, and we’ll pay the contractors,” he stressed.
Mr Adjei, further stated that Fidelity Bank, violated the agreement by directly disbursing the funds to the contractors, which is not the normal procedure.
He emphasized, “We’re asking for GHS 5 million, you open an account, you put the money in the account, and the money is disbursed. But the money was directly disbursed to the contractors, that’s not the normal thing”.
Again, the Finance Director for KMA, revealed that Fidelity Bank opened an account for KMA without the consent of the Finance Director and Coordinating Director, who are the signatories for KMA’s financial services.
“After the contract was signed, Fidelity opened an account for KMA without the consent of me, the Finance Director, and the Coordinating Director,” he explained.
David Adjei, further clarified that as the Finance Officer, he is not a signatory to the account opened by Fidelity Bank, nor is the Coordinating Director. “If you ask whether an account was opened, it was later we started our investigation, then we became aware of all these happenings that account was opened,” he told Host Kojo Marfo on Abusua Nkommo on ABUSUA 96.5 FM.
The former Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Osei Assibey Antwi, has rebuffed allegations of financial malfeasance, insisting nothing untoward was done contracting a loan and approving payments to contractors for the construction of the Krofrom Market.
The Ghanaian Times reported that constituents of the KMA’s 9th General Meeting, had questioned how contractors for the Krofrom Market Redevelopment Project had received some GHc8 million when the entire loan approved by the general assembly towards the project was GHc5 million.
The report pointed to financial maladministration on the part of the former KMA Boss Osei Asibe Antwi with inferences that he wrote letters requesting a loan in excess of the amount approved by the assembly and issued letters for payments to the contractor on the blind side of the assembly.
In an interview with Kojo Marfo on Abusua Nkommo at ABUSUA 96. 5 FM, Assibey Antwi, clarified that the letter he wrote was not a unilateral decision, but rather an entire decision taken by the Assembly, and insisted that the letter was written to the consultant, not directly to Fidelity Bank.
“The letter was written to the consultant because you have to write to the consultant, then they will refer those activities to Fidelity,”Assib ey Antwi explained, adding that the arrangement with Fidelity Bank was to finance the shelves, which were completed before he left KMA.
“The arrangement with Fidelity was that after the first phase, which was even completed before I left because they were to finance the shelves, and truly the shelves were done before I left KMA. The next arrangement was that after the shelves had been completed, it would be given out”, Hon. Assibey Antwi said.
Osei Assibey Antwi, emphasized that the matter is a family issue, and details of the content should be discussed in the appropriate place.
He urged the current administration to reach out to him, if they didn’t understand anything related to the matter, insisting brawl could be likened to needlessly discussing private family squabbles in the public.
“In Assembly matters, you call the predecessor if you don’t understand anything. You can ask Hon. Samuel Sarpong and Kojo Bonsu, though we’re not in the same party. I used to call them in matters I didn’t understand, and they explained to me when I was in charge”, he stated.
He further questioned why the Assembly couldn’t reach out to him when they set up a committee to investigate the matter.
“I was the former Mayor when they set up the committee. What stopped them from just calling me?”, he quizzed.
Assibey Antwi, also reminded the Assembly of a meeting where Nana Amoamanhene, came to brief them about the stages and progress of the project.
“And I am only reminding them, was there not a meeting when Nana Amoamanhene even came to brief us all about the stages and how things have gone?” he asked.
Mr Asibe Antwi, stated emphatically that “nothing untoward had happened and that everything was in the interest of the market. Everybody knows that everything was also explained”, he stressed.
The Ghanaian Times, reported that during the 9th General Meeting of the KMA on May 8, it was revealed that a loan of GH¢5 million initially proposed for the redevelopment of the Krofrom market had been increased to GH¢8 million. However, only GH¢4.8 million had been utilized for the market project, leaving no documentation of the disbursement of the remaining GH¢3 million.
But in a press release issued on Friday, May 10, 2024, the KMA’s Public Affairs Unit clarified that there had been no reports or claims from the Assembly indicating any misappropriation of funds amounting to 3 million cedis from the project budget.
The KMA’s press release clarified that the Assembly had agreed to a loan facility of 5 million cedis from Fidelity Bank, which had been fully repaid with interest. The document further explained that while the agreed loan amount was 5 million cedis, the bank had disbursed 8 million cedis after contractors submitted certificates to that effect, which were duly approved by the KMA.
Adjei clarified that the loan agreement stipulated that the registration fees from market women would serve as the primary repayment source. In case of default, the shares of money at Kejetia City Market were used as collateral.
He emphasized, “The primary repayment source for the Ghc5 million loan was the registration fees from market women. However, our shares at Kejetia City Market were used as collateral in case of default.”
He further explained that KMA failed to meet the repayment deadline due to delays caused by the Metropolitan Director.
He highlighted that the collateral funds were utilized by Fidelity Bank to settle the loan agreement.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t complete the registration, and Hon Sam Payne came as the new KMA boss. He told us to give him some time to go through the documents, and the time for repayment was due so Fidelity used the collateral money to settle the loan agreement”, he emphasized.
Despite providing all necessary information to the new Metropolitan Director, Samuel Payne, Adjei expressed disappointment that the repayment deadline was missed due to delays in document review.
He stated, “The briefing was done, I was part of the team that did the briefing and what he told us was that we should wait while he did one or two things”.
Background:
The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has responded to concerns raised by The Ghanaian Times regarding the alleged disappearance of GHc3 million from a loan intended for the Krofrom Market project in Kumasi. The Assembly has called for a probe into the matter.
In 2021/2022, the Assembly proposed a GHc5 million loan from Fidelity Bank for the market project, accompanied by a letter signed by the then Metropolitan Chief Executive, Osei Assibey Antwi.
In response to a publication by The Ghanaian Times on Friday, May 10, 2024, titled “Redevelopment of Krofrom market: GH¢3.6m missing from project fund,” the KMA issued a statement to clarify the issue.
According to the statement, a loan facility approved by the General Assembly from Fidelity Bank for the continuation of the Krofrom market was paid in excess of GH¢3.6 million.
“Sometime in 2020, the General Assembly approved a loan facility of GH¢5 million from Fidelity Bank for the continuation of the Krofrom market. Fidelity Bank disbursed an amount of GH¢8,622,347.56 to contractors based on certificates raised by the contractors and on the instructions of the Assembly,” the statement read.
