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Three staff of the Wassa Amenfi East District Assembly in the Western Region have been interdicted
on alleged procurement fraud in the award of several contracts running into millions of cedis.

The interdicted staff are Abdul Aziz Jafaru, District Co-ordinating Director; Frank Taylor, District Finance Officer; and Felix Asiedu, District Works Engineer.

Mr Stephen Baidoo Acheampong, the former District Chief Executive (DCE) and Saaka Alhassan, the former District Engineer, who have been implicated in the alleged procurement fraud, and the three interdicted staff have been picked up, interrogated and granted bail while investigations continue. 

Information available to The Finder reveals that an initial contract sum of GH₵199,164.42 for a police barracks at Wassa Akropong jumped to GH₵212,073.05, and is currently estimated to cost GH₵260,000.

This amount is said to be above the threshold of the assembly, but approval was not sought from the Regional Tender Review Board.

In another instance, the contract for the construction of the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital at GH₵410,410.35; the construction of a two-storey six-unit classroom block with auxiliary facilities, also at Wassa Akropong, priced at GH₵474,472.95; and the construction of a three-unit classroom block with office at Ntowkrom at a sum of GH₵323,111.64 were all beyond the threshold of the district assembly.

Another accusation levelled against the accused staff was that reshaping of feeder roads in the district did not go through any competitive bidding process while contracts awarded were not properly recorded in the contract register.

Information available to The Finder indicates that the assembly reported the matter to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for investigations and further action. 

According to our source, on January 11, 2016, a case of alleged procurement fraud was lodged at EOCO against some staff and former staff of the Wassa Amenfi East District Assembly.

The suspects were arrested on January 27, 2016 and interrogated before they were released on bail on January 29, 2016 to report every two weeks while investigations continue.