The Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has directed the board of the Ghana Maritime Authority to investigate claims that the Authority spent over GHc10, 000 on lunch during a meeting held in November 2017.
Some media reports last week suggested that the Director General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Kwame Owusu, authorized the payment of the amount for eight people for lunch, and a separate amount of over one hundred thousand cedis to Luxe Suites Hotel; a company he allegedly owns.
The Director General has been widely criticized for the alleged misappropriation.
Although the Authority has denied the claims, the Transport Minister said the board is expected to make its findings available to him for an appropriate decision to be made.
“My attention has been drawn to a number of allegations against the Director General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Mr. Kwame Owusu, which have gone viral on social media.”
“As the sector Minister with oversight responsibility over the Ghana Maritime Authority, I wish to indicate that I have directed the Board of the Authority to investigate the allegations and report to me for necessary action,” the statement signed by Kwaku Ofori Asiamah added.
GMA denies spending GHC10K on lunch in single meeting
[contextly_sidebar id=”Zgo3Qx9IyPIsX21YfPLe5a9MsQd4t6Nw”]The Ghana Maritime Authority had earlier refuted the claims saying the alleged memo on social media was “doctored.”
A statement issued by the management of the Maritime Authority stated that the document was doctored to give the impression that government actually spent the said amount in a day on just eight people.
It indicated that the said amount was for the cost of food for management and stakeholders on three different occasions for over forty people.
“The fact is that the memo making the rounds has been doctored by the ‘writing of 8 persons’ besides ‘Minute 2’ as contained in the said memo.”
“The amount quoted in the memo was cost of food for different meetings (management and stakeholders) held on 31 October, 2017, 6 November 2017 and 8 November 2017, and couldn’t have been for eight persons in a single meeting as purported in the publication.
The statement said members for stakeholder meetings alone number over 40 at a sitting aside the management team.
“From the above, it is clearly evident that the amount could not have been the cost of food for eight persons in a meeting as being portrayed,” the statement said.
–
By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin
