KATH boss must go

A group calling itself Asante Youth Association (AYA) has waded into the purported political interference in the appointment of senior management officers at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), calling on President Mahama to dismiss Dr Joseph Akpaloo, the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The group said the KATH CEO had become a mockery at most health sector management meetings, having shown gross incompetence in managing the referral health facility by, among other things, appointing a junior ranking officer in the person of one Eric Oduro as the administrator in-charge of domestic services.

Speaking at a press conference in Kumasi on Wednesday, AYA alleged that the move was part of a grand scheme by Dr Joseph Akpaloo to purge the hospital’s management personnel and replace them with his cronies and tribesmen.

“This is a very bad precedent of politicising the establishment and work in a big referral hospital and national asset like KATH,” secretary of the group, Barima Twereboa Kodua, noted.

According to him, while the CEO’s appointment was deemed to be an illegality – by an executive fiat instead of the public service commission – his move to appoint a junior officer for one of the most sensitive departments at KATH smacked of incompetence, indicating that it was dangerous for public service, and could only lead to perpetuation of corruption.

AYA, which also accused the KATH administrator, George Kofi Tetteh, of engaging in conflict of interest, charged the president to investigate him as he (Tetteh) had purportedly established a company that supplies goods to the teaching hospital “at exorbitant rates.”

The group said its investigation after DAILY GUIDE’s publication on a clandestine attempt by the government to push George Kofi Tetteh to replace Isaiah Offeh Gyimah, the Director of Administration, had uncovered several schemes that are seeking to stall the operations of the hospital.

The government’s clandestine agenda was first communicated by the former Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani, who wrote a letter dated October 10, 2014 to remove Mr Offeh Gyimah and replaced him with George Kofi Tetteh.

Even the appointment of the current CEO of the hospital, Dr Joseph Akpaloo, is laden with suspicion since he was not appointed by the Public Services Commission but rather by executive fiat from the presidency at a time public advertisement had been put out.

The then Health Minister, Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, was asked to write to George Kofi Tetteh to assume his duty as the acting director of administration.

The appointment letter, dated April 13, 2015 and signed by the health minister, indicated that Isaiah Offeh Gyimah, who the minister described as ailing, should report to the ministry for reposting.