The scandal which rocked the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) a few years ago is still fresh on the minds of many Ghanaians but new documents in possession of The New Crusading GUIDE indicate that, apart from some service providers who benefited from the loot which is running into millions of Ghana Cedis, the activities of some unscrupulous senior officers at the Secretariat made the State lose over One Million Ghana Cedis (Gh¢1M) to some illegal staff.
The financial loss came as a result of payments of various sums of money to individuals whom a 2015 Audit report by the Audit Service tags as ‘Unqualified Staff’ and ‘Non Existing Staff Added to Migration List’.
While 126 persons were classified as Unqualified Staff, 19 persons were listed as non-existing Staff.
The Audit Report dated 31st March, 2015, which took into accounts the activities of GYEEDA for the year ending 31 December, 2013, stated that there were major flaws on the part of Management; especially at the Human Resource and Financial Departments, which resulted in the colossal loss of money.
The report also recommended that the DNC-Human Resource Manager, Mr. Selasi Attipoe-Fittz, DNC-Finance and Administration, Alhaji Sulemana Ibrahim be sanctioned for causing the financial loss.
However, The New Crusading GUIDE can say on authority that the duo is still at post and no sanctions have been given them.
“The DNC-Human Resource Manager unilaterally added names of persons on Better Ghana Management Services (BGMS) or beneficiary payroll to the migrated list contrary to approved guidelines”, the report stated.
“Best practice in Human Resource Management requires that staff who successfully passed employment processes should be eligible to be employed and earn salaries. The approved restructuring and migration guidelines for GYEEDA also state among others that programme staff who have successfully passed interviews be issued new appointment letters as public servants.
“However, during the period of our audit, we discovered that management paid a total amount of GH¢895,536.18 between the period November 2012, (effective date of successful migrated staff) to December 2013 to 126 staff who could not successfully pass the interview and therefore ceased to be employees of GYEEDA” the Auditors found out.
In the view of the Audit Service, the continuous payment of “these unqualified staff their previous salaries was a waste of state funds. We gain viewed management’s action as contravention of financial discipline and unjustifiable drain on state resources. It also undermined the objectives of restructuring and migration exercise undertaken.
The report recommended that “management should adhere to the financial regulations and ensure that efficient human resource management procedures are put to check these negative practices. Meanwhile, we recommend that payment of salaries to these unqualified staff should be stopped immediately, their names deleted from the pay roll and amount of GH¢895,536.18 illegally paid be retrieved and in addition, 2014 to date payments be investigated and refunded to chest”.
Most of the persons whose names were recommended to be deleted from the payroll are still at post and drawing their salaries without any inhibition.
The Audit Team also said they observed during their “review of both 2012 and 2013 payrolls and interview reports that nineteen (19) persons who were not existing programme staff were included in both interview reports and the paid migrated payroll. The DNC-Human Resource Manager unilaterally added names of persons on Better Ghana Management Services (BGMS) or beneficiary payroll to the migrated list contrary to approved guidelines”.
“In our view, management side-stepped the approved restructuring policy put in place. We therefore insist that that salaries amounting to GH¢157,196.30 paid them was illegal and therefore be refunded immediately whilst the DNC-Human Resource Manager, DNC-Finance and Administration and the Internal Auditor who pre-audited, approved and authorized the payment are sanctioned”.
Please stay tuned as we unravel how some people being pursued by the Economic and Organised Crime Organisation (EOCO) have been brought back to YEA and appointed as District Directors.
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