Sacked NYA Deputy CEO Exposes Shocking Procurement Breaches

One of the acting Deputy Chief Executive Officers of the National Youth Authority (NYA), sacked by the President, has blamed his boss for the alleged procurement violations at the Authority.

Richard Rocky Joojo Obeng, who was in-charge of Finance and Administration, said the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NYA, Emmanuel Sin-Nyet Asigri acted unilaterally by issuing payment to Prefos, a company it collaborated with for a streetlight training project.

Mr Asigri and his deputies, including Bright Acheampong, have been relieved of their post over procurement breaches.

A statement signed by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah under the instruction of President Nana Akufo-Addo asked the three gentlemen  to hand over their offices to Director of Technical projects at the NYA, Mr Emmanuel Anaman-Mensah.

Reacting to this, the former deputy NYA CEO on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem programme, Wednesday said he is innocent.

He explained that, all attempts to stop the CEO from issuing payments without following due process were resisted.

As an immediate measure, Mr Obeng said he decided to keep the payment voucher in his office only to realise his boss had given instructions for the company to be paid.

Below is his full statement:

I wish to thank President Akufo-Addo for giving me the opportunity to serve the youth of our country. For the sake of the record, I wish to state that I have no hand in the recently reported procurement violations at NYA.

All records available at NYA ie Management minutes and internal payment documents clearly show that I and a few good people have indeed held and taken the strongest possible opposition to the NYA-Prefos Streetlight Training engagements.

As the Schedule Officer responsible for approving payment vouchers, I REFUSED to ever approve any payments intended to that company( Prefos). I did not approve the over one million and eight hundred thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC 1.8 million). I actually stopped the payment voucher covering that transaction and locked it up. It is still in my possession. As to why and how that Cheque was written in spite of the Payment Voucher blockade, I leave it to the team of investigators and possibly prosecutors.

I did advise my Director of Procurement to consider opening bid for that transaction if they wanted me to be party to approving payment. Together with my colleague Deputy in charge of Operations, I proceeded to the Chief Executive Officer in his office and gave my professional advice which essentially cautioned him not to proceed. And since that didn’t happen, I duly advised myself never to approve any cash transaction to that Company. As a young entrepreneur turned public servant, who was offered a rare opportunity to serve, it is imperative to put out this information as I graciously accept the decision to have my appointment terminated. I am happy that I discharged my duties with the highest level of patriotism and integrity and didn’t bother even if it meant becoming a victim of collective action such as this.

I wish to once again, thank his excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo for the opportunity to serve in his government. I pray that investigation is speedily carried out to serve justice to all who stood for the right things and punish those who in a blatant way dented the image of this government with this matter.

SIGNED 
Richard Joojo Obeng