<<Print>>Eyebrows are being raised and questions are flying in the Ablekuma West Office of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Greater Accra Region, over some missing cash meant as payment for party agents during the last District Assembly elections in Dansoman, the Constituency capital.
The Enquirer has learnt the Ablekuma West is one of the constituencies in the Greater Accra Region with the largest polling stations and during the last District Assembly elections, the party engaged the services of some young men to monitor the voters register exhibition exercise by the Electoral Commission throughout the 130 polling stations in the constituency.
Enquirer’s investigations have uncovered that the party engaged 49 agents instead of 130 agents to monitor the exhibition exercise for the 2014 botched District Assembly elections.
According to information, the 49 agents were supposed to be paid GH70 for the seven days they were engaged to monitor the exercise but the constituency failed to do so, for lack of funds.
Our calculation suggests that the 49 agents were supposed to be paid GH4,900 for the seven days they monitored the exercise, but with the connivance of the Constituency Chairman, Mr. Daniel Quaicoo, one Mr. Dickson Lekey, the Constituency Organizer, inflated the cost of the exercise to Gh8,000 without the knowledge of the other constituency officers.
Apparently, Mr. Lekey took the action without the knowledge of the constituency treasurer, Madam Vincentia Banini.
The constituency organizer and the chairman managed to get the cost of the exercise paid for by the mayor of Accra, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, who is now vying for the Ablekuma South seat.
Enquirer is informed the mayor admitted to finance the cost of the exercise without knowing the cost was inflated by the organizer.
Reports say that after several attempts to have the mayor release the funds, he only honored his pledge to the Constituency two months ago.
And the two other executives mentioned above managed to go and collect the money at the residence of the mayor, when he asked the constituency chairman to come for it on the blind side of the other executives.
The Enquirer is reliably informed that since the mayor released the money, the whereabouts of the GH8,000 could not be traced, in spite of the incessant calls on the Chairman and organizer to have the remainder of the fund kept in the party’s account for other miscellaneous activities of the party.
The other executives are contesting that, if the two have gone ahead to pay the agents their due what is left must come to the coffers of party.
The failure of the two gentlemen to account for the said money is creating tension among the executives in the constituency, The Enquirer has leant.
Enquirer has also been inform that several meetings have been called to prevail on the Chairman and the organizer to account for the moneys they took from the mayor, but to no avail as the chairman is bent on shielding him (Lekey).
Sources say the chairman is scuttling efforts to have the issue heard by the Disciplinary Committee for finality to be brought to the matter.
When journalist called up Mr. Dickson Lekey, to react to the allegations of squandering party funds, he resorted to issuing of threats upon threats for seeking clearance on the matter that is on the lips of every party sympathizer in the constituency.
After some hours of an evasive telephone Interaction, Mr. Lekey called up this reporter and started raining indirect curses and virtually cursing the constituency executives, he believes are behind the leak of the story.
On two occasions, the learned party officer bounced calls on this reporter in an angry mood, claiming he will deal with them, saying ‘is this how the matter has gotten to?”
When questioned about how the money was expended and whether the money he took from the mayor was inflated, he asked “weren’t the agents paid?”
“I know the people behind this and I will not react to anything, “we shall see” was his words when he went berserk on the phone.”