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General News of Thursday, 11 October 2018

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Two tutors of Ankaful Nurses College transferred after exposing corrupt deals of Principal

The tutors believe they are being punished by some unseen hands for being whistleblowers The tutors believe they are being punished by some unseen hands for being whistleblowers

Two tutors of the Ankaful Nurses Training College have been transferred from the school after exposing the corrupt deals of the Acting Principal of the college.

The two tutors, William Akpetey and Cyril Kumako, uncovered widespread corrupt deals of the acting principal of the college and blew his uncover.

The acting principal of the College, Simon Dogedoung after an investigation by the Economic and Organized Crime Office has been made to refund parts of the money allegedly stolen from the school after their investigation but the two tutors who exposed the rot have been transferred from the school for no reason.

In a letter dated 31st August 2018 but was handed over to the two on the 3rd of October, 2018, the two were asked to report their assumption of duty to their new Health training Institutions.

For Mr Cyril Kumako, the letter signed on behalf of the Minister of Health by Dr Kwesi Asabir, Head of Training Institutions, he is expected to report to the College of Health and Well-being at Kintampo on the 15th of October, 2018.

The two say they have not asked to be transferred from the school neither have they committed any crime or done any untoward action to warrant such a treatment.

They believe they are being punished by some unseen hands for being whistleblowers to save the school's purse.

"Transfers are normally requested for by the transferees or when such persons are engaged in wrongdoing. In our case, we only exposed the rot in our school. Why is that the Principal who was engaged in the wrongdoing is still at post while we have to suffer the consequences. Is it wrong to fight corruption in this country," the two quizzed.

The two suspect a deliberate attempt to silence them and a continuation of the corrupt activities of the Principal in the school and want the president and the Minister of Health to intervene to ensure that justice is served.

"The President asked us to be citizens and not spectators. We only acted in good faith by exposing the corrupt deal in our system. Transferring us is a bad signal. It means victory for the wrongdoer. We don't think the Minister of Health knows about this. We want his intervention," they cried.

The two accused the former Member of Parliament for the KEEA and now Head of Local Government Service, Dr Ato Arthur of teaming up with the acting Principal to cause their transfer.

The Head of Local Government Service is alleged to have stepped in to save the head of the acting principal because the acting principal claims he is an NPP sympathiser.

"Dr. Ato Arthur should be seen to be fighting corruption and not to support those engaged in it. We are boldly told that he had to plead with the authorities above to save the acting principal and cause our transfer," they alleged.

Background to the story

On the 19 of February 2018, the Acting Principal of the Ankaful Psychiatric Nurses Training College, Simon Dogedoung was accused by some staff of the College for misappropriating a little over 8,000.

Mr Dorgedon, according to some staff of the school, paid himself an amount of GHC943.20 on February 14 as allowance for marking the end of first-semester examination scripts of trainees. It emerged, however, that Mr Dorgedon did not take part in the marking of the examination scripts.

Mr Dorgedon again, allegedly, paid himself GH¢7,074, being 25% of the total amount paid to the tutors for marking of scripts. This did not sit well with the staff who blew his cover.

The staff therefore questioned the kind of work Mr Dorgedon did to warrant the total amount of GH¢8,017.00 he paid himself on February 14.

Accordingly, they petitioned the Central Regional Police Commander and the Bureau of National Investigations to look into the matter.

An investigation by the Economic and Organized Crime Office led to the retrieval of some sums of money from the Acting Principal. The principal after the payment was given receipt of the amount paid to the consolidated account upon the orders of EOCO.