Chaos At NADMO

* One investigation, two security reports * Coordinator’s office intact weeks after announced exit Weeks after the Minister of The Interior, Mr Kwamena Bartels, sought to transfer Mr George Isaac Amoo, National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), from his post to a desk at the Ministry of The Interior, a substantive replacement is yet to be formally announced. GYE NYAME CONCORD can reveal that moments after the former Deputy Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr K. K. Manfo’s unannounced elevation to the National Coordinator post was withdrawn in favour of the controversial ex-Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, ACP Douglas Akrofi-Asiedu, the new capo was re-designated as Acting National Coordinator. Meantime, the substantive National Coordinator, George Isaac Amoo, who is supposed to have been sacked, is still occupying his office at the NADMO headquarters, near the Kawokudi Junction, Accra. Worse still, there has been no official transfer or handover of power by Amoo to the brash ex-police capo, leaving many NADMO staff confused as to who is their No. 1 boss. Mr. Akrofi-Asiedu, who has been tagged the Acting Coordinator, has so far failed to use the office of the man he is supposed to have replaced and has been housed instead in the offices of one of Amoo’s deputies, who died very recently. Questions also remain over the findings of the three-member Special Investigative Committee (SIC) made up of representatives each from the Ministry for National Security (Mr Tony Hagan), Auditor General’s Department (Kwamena Ghansah) and the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) (Darimani Osman), which Amoo has challenged and described in very denigrating terms. Strikingly, this reporter has in his custody two reports issued by the same SIC on the singular investigative exercise. The first report was handed over to the President on July 18th, 2007. The latest report, which sources may not have been sent to the President yet, is dated August 7, 2007. The second report has different conclusions on some of the pertinent allegations made in the first report, which was widely publicised in the media. Sources, however, say the August report is a review of the July report. Amoo has publicly claimed that the July report was meant to malign him and paint him black. He also accused the SIC of deliberately choosing to ignore documents he availed to them in his official response to the allegations and argued that they drew their conclusion from no evidence, and breached the rules of natural justice in their investigations. Lashing out at the SIC, Amoo claimed that he did not purchase unwholesome, maggot infested rice for NADMO as contained in the SIC report widely circulated in the media. “NADMO did not purchase unwholesome rice from its suppliers and the evidence available points to this fact. The Stores, Procurement and Audit officials did not report that the rice they received was unwholesome. The Warehouse Keeper received the rice on the day of delivery and the only complaint he had was that the rice was not local rice as agreed, but Thai rice…” He then raised issues with how the four regional NADMO heads whose letters formed the basis of the investigation could have distributed the said infested rice without keeping some as proof of their claims and he be blamed for that. “…The Regional Coordinators who asserted that the unwholesome rice was delivered to their offices have not to date physically presented a sample of the supposed unwholesome rice. What we have instead is the repeated allegation of these officials that they had received “unwholesome” rice and requesting the Head Office to send them replacement. Between the Central, Northern, Eastern and Ashanti Regions, we have as many as over 762 (probably over a thousand) bags of rice alleged to be unwholesome and strangely not a single bag has been kept or made available by these responsible officials for verification” Amoo noted. He continued: “Worthy of note however is that, as recent as 29th July 2007 following the flood disaster at Enchi, in the Aowin-Suaman District, NADMO sent 500 bags of rice from our warehouse in Accra to the affected areas. Before I dispatched the trucks I, together with 6 persons in the presence of over 25 other people including the Member of Parliament for the affected areas and a GTV camera-crew did a random sampling and physical examination of the rice in stock and no evidence of the mouldiness, powdery, weevil infestation, etc was found in any of the random bags of rice chosen for the test. This was 16 days AFTER the SIC had submitted its report, meaning at the time of the investigations part of the stock of rice complained of were available for testing and verification.” “Apart from letters from the four Regional Coordinators, informing NADMO head office of the alleged unwholesome rice, these Regional Coordinators, did not take any steps to address the problem. They also did not back their claims with any physical evidence. The Northern Regional Coordinator, in a letter dated 6th June 2007 (see appendix 4 to Exh. GIA1) stated he had received reports from the districts that the rice was unwholesome and “not good for human consumption”. Further, he indicates receiving the rice on 21st March 2007 without any complaint of the rice being “unwholesome”. “Incidentally, a report from one such district, signed by the District Coordinator Mohammed Abukari Saba, do not have any such complaint. Rather the concern was about the quantity/size of rice bags he received (Copy attached as Exh. GIA3). Similar complaints without any evidence whatsoever were received from the Eastern, Central and Ashanti Regions. It is a hard claim to make by responsible officials to have received rice “not fit for human consumption” and yet proceed to distribute same to disaster stricken communities. Why any responsible official would take such a course of action and afterwards write to me for replacement is difficult for me to understand. I submit that the Regional Offices did not return any of the bags of the alleged unwholesome rice, simply because none existed.” Sources say the embattled NADMO Coordinator, who is presently out of the country, intends to hold a press conference on his return on why he was removed. Amoo’s removal from office was carried out in a very controversial manner. Though under the ACT establishing NADMO, it is only the President of the Republic who can hire and fire the National Coordinator of the disaster relief coordinating agency, Amoo’s initial re-designation letter was issued by the Minister of the Interior, Hon. Kwamena Bartels in his own capacity. Meantime, the President, acting through the Chief of Staff has reportedly halted the transfer of the Chief Accountant of NADMO, Mr Moses Abakah, from NADMO as directed by the Minister of State at the Ministry of The Interior, Nana Obiri-Boahen.