Korle-Bu Xmas bonus saga: Minister-designate to seek briefing

Health minister-designate, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, is to request for a report on the payment of over GHC600,000 as Christmas bonuses to the staff and management members of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

Investigations by 3FM’s Sarah Parku uncovered the payment of GHC100 to each staff of the Hospital as motivation while management members took home a total of about GHC17,000 as intramural allowance. Findings from the investigations showed the Chief Executive of the Hospital received GHC 21,000.

According to the Board of the Hospital, which has confirmed the payment, it only approved the GHC100 for the staff, noting the extra payment for the management members was without proper approval. Commenting on the matter, the minister-designate described it as “worrying,” noting he would immediately request for briefing on the issue even before his vetting. “We are still in transition, I’m gathering a lot of information from the Ministry and what I will do immediately is to call for a brief report on the matter to see what is actually happening there,” he told TV3’s Komla Klutse.

He said should he be confirmed after his vetting, he would commission what he termed “serious auditing to be done there” with the view to finding a quick resolution to the matter. “Corporate governance won’t allow management or the chief executive to take away anything without the board’s approval; that’s the bottom line.

So that will be a breach if that is the correct information you’retrying to put up,” he noted. Mr Agyeman-Manu said it will be a “serious, serious infraction” if the allegations turn out to be true, noting in that case, sanctions may be applied quickly.

“As for what the Board approved, if there’s any liability or responsibility, that will go to the entire board and I think they have the privilege to actually approve bonuses for staff depending on their performance but for Chief Executive and management to take away bonuses without the Board’s approval, I wouldn’t know so I will ask the authority that granted that approval if it is from themselves, then it is a problem; serious breach of corporate governance, and it may even be against our financial laws,” he argued.