The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Youth Authority (NYA), has gone into a frenzy over concerns by the Auditor General that a whooping Ghc1.1 million, was spent as sitting allowance by the NYA Board in breach of a Ministry of Finance directive.
Pius Enam Hadzide, lied that The Herald’s publication of the content of the Auditor General’s report on the NYA, was a sponsored story made in an attempt to discredit him and make him unpopular, because he has expressed interest in the Asuogyaman Constituency seat in the Eastern region.
The 2021 report of the Auditor-General, minced no words in establishing that a total payment of GH¢1,181,777.50 3411 as sitting allowance to the Board Committee was without recourse to the directives of the Ministry of Finance.
But speaking on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 92.4Fm in the UK, the CEO, noted that the allegations are unfounded, baseless and without merit.
According to him, people are going around peddling lies and falsehoods against him, just to disgrace him and injure his hard-won reputation.
He was responding to the publication that the NYA has blown Ghc1.1 million on sitting allowance in breach of the Ministry of Finance directive.
Responding, he said, “The issue lacks merit. It is baseless, reckless and untrue”.
The Herald Newspaper, he claims, published the story in an attempt to discredit him and make him unpopular, because he has expressed interest in the Asuogyaman Constituency seat.
He was speaking to Dr Ren on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 92.4FM last week.
He said no attempt or lies would stop him from doing his work, adding “when I was appointed, we organized nine board meetings. The cost of these meetings and other activities will not amount to Ghc300, 000. The Ghc1.1 million is false and not an accurate figure”.
He told the host that the total expenditure of the NYA is about Ghc246, 000 and not Ghc1.1 million, as alleged by the newspaper.
Derailing the costs involved in their activities, he said the NYA organised a Board meeting on November 9, 2021, and another one on November 23, to continue with the continuation of the issues discussed during the previous date.
“We organised another one on June 24, 2022, January 31, 2022, May 30, June 15, August 1 and September 7 2022. The Board meetings were nine, and the costs involved were less than Ghc246, 000.”
The audit report had said “our review of financial transactions of the Authority disclosed that a total of GH¢1,181,777.50 was paid as Board allowance and Board committee allowance and management retreat/workshop in the period 2018 and 2019 without adhering to the directive from the Ministry of Finance.
“We recommended that Management should immediately apply to the Ministry of Finance for the approved rates applicable to their Authority and notify audit accordingly of the response.
“The Authority withheld VAT/NHIL and GETFund amounting to GH¢167,466.25 from the payment of Messrs Joe Kingsley a consultant but is yet to remit the same to Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). Similarly, the Management did not obtain VAT invoices on payment amounting to GH¢86,482.72 inclusive of value added tax (VAT) of GH¢9,906.38 paid to Mr. Arnold Boateng. We advised Management to immediately remit the VAT/NHIL withheld of GH¢167,466.25 to GRA and ensure that Mr. Arnold Boateng provide VAT invoices covering the total amount of GH¢86,482.72 and notify the audit team for verification.
“We noted during our review of the Authority’s transactions that the Authority paid an interest of 3.4% on an overdue debt for the purchase of official vehicles from Auto Mall Ghana Limited after delivery of the vehicles. Similarly, the Authority had to bear the cost of cancellation of official trip to Angola. We advised Management to leverage on the pre-existing relationships with these vendors in such instances and engage them in negotiations so as to reduce the fines and charges that arise as a result of a failure or delay in fulfilling an obligation.
“The Authority procured services spanning the period 2018 to 2019 amounting to GH¢288,265.20 from service providers without obtaining alternative quotations from other sources thereby defeating the purpose of ensuring value for money. We recommended that approval should be sought from the Public Procurement Authority before single source procurement method is applied and the head of Procurement, Director of Finance and Chief Executive Officer should in future obtain quotations from at least three different suppliers before selecting a supplier to transact business with.
“We noted that the Authority did not have any laid down criteria in providing sponsorships that were granted. We recommended that Management with approval from the Board, should develop a criterion for the approval of financial support to individuals and youth groups with the aim of a harmonised and standard way of operating.
“We noted leakages on the roof of the newly constructed boy’s dormitory block, during our inspection of the project at the Youth Leadership and Skills Training Institute at Ajumako Afranse in the Central Region. We recommended that the Director of Technical Project and Procurement invite the contractor to site to fix the leakages and inform the audit team for inspection before the retention sum of GH¢49, 515.00 is paid, failing which the retention withheld should be used to fix the leakages.
