The untold facts about Mastercard support to Ghana red cross on COVID -19

The maxim of equity states that “he who comes into equity must come with clean hands”. My name is Michael Kwame Asante, the formal Ashanti Regional Manager for the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS). I would like to draw the attention of all well-wishers of the Ghana Red Cross Society and bring clarity to the above-mentioned project and the bruhaha surrounding same.

As part of my willingness to support the well-being of the GRCS, I was asked by the immediate past Secretary General (SG) Mr. Kofi Addo, with an official letter to support the Central Regional branch of the GRCS as Accounts Officer on a UKaid/WE (STAGE) Project. This was a Five (5)- year project.

For the Four (4) years that I worked on the project, I was paying for my own hotel accommodations, buying my own fuel as I shuttled between Kumasi and Cape Coast, as well as maintaining my own vehicle since the project budget didn’t take care of all these expenses.

However, for the love of the GRCS, I offered these sacrifices for 4 good years. During this period, I was receiving a monthly salary of Two Thousand Ghana Cedis (Ghc2,000.00) at an annual increment of 5%. I was going to the central region twice a month and spent 3 days on each of the visits. On the other hand, Mr. Addo never visited the region but took a monthly salary of Ghc 1,600.00 on the same project.

During one of my official duties in the central region, the former Regional Manager, Mr. John Aidoo told me he had gotten a project from Master Card so he wanted my CV and also requested my help in preparing a budget for the project, which I did.

We subsequently went to the national headquarters to meet Mr. Addo for a debriefing on the said project. According to Mr. Aidoo, the SG agreed to all the terms and conditions of the project and signed the contract agreement.

When the SG later noticed the involvement of the then Deputy Secretary General (Dr. Eric Asamoah Darko) in the project, he sent a letter to those of us involved in the project to debrief all the Heads of the Department and the National Management Board about the project in Koforidua on July 12, 2020 (see attached appendix1for the letter of invitation from the SG).

At the Koforidua meeting, I did a presentation on the budget which had been approved by MasterCard, and Mr. Aidoo did a presentation on how far the region had gone with the procurement issues, in terms of quantities to be supplied and refunds to be made to the national society (NS).

It was then agreed at the meeting that there had been some breaches of the procurement procedure, and also raised the issue that we (Mr. Aidoo and I) can’t double as paid officers on the project as well as Regional Managers.

The president subsequently set up a 4-member committee to correct all the anomalies to see to the smooth implementation of the proj as to satisfy and sustain the partnership with the doner. Below were the members of the said committee:

1. Mr, Kofi Addo
2. Mr. Emmanuel Ashley
3. Dr, Preko
4. Mr. James Addy

Shockingly, soon after the meeting, Mr. Addo set up another committee when they returned to the headquarters (HQ) and disregarded the one set by the president, which then took over the implementation of the project. The members of that new committee were:

1. Mr. Kofi Addo
2. Mr. Alex Lanbon
3. Mr. Louis Okyere

On the 15th of July (3 days after the Koforidua meeting), Mr. Addo sent us the letter below:

"Kofi Addo

To:jeanekow.redcross_cr@yahoo.com,mamponghene@yahoo.com,amickyus@yahoo.com
Cc: Kwame Gyimah-Akwafo, Kingsley Asare, Emmanuel Ashley, James Addy, Samuel Kofi Addoand 4 more... Wed, Jul 15, 2020, at 11:25 AM

Dear Deputy Secretary General
Dear Central Region Manager
Dear Ashanti Region Manager

MASTER CARD SUPPORT FOR GRCS COVID-19 RESPONSE

A Committee was constituted by the President during the Management Committee meeting in Koforidua on July 12, 2020.

The Committee is to map the way forward and also guide Secretariat in the implementation of the COVID19 Response support received from Mastercard.
The Committee met on July 14, 2020, and gave the following directives for compliance as the first step.

I. The Project is now a National Project and will be managed by Headquarters using nationally approved guidelines and procedures.

II. All documents right from the conception stage to date should be submitted by the initial project team members to the Secretary-General for onward distribution to the Committee members. Mr. John Aidoo is to supply this documentation by the close of work Friday, July 17, 2020.

III. All suppliers must be known. They must meet the Committee at a date to be fixed and communicated. They are to come with samples and all other relevant documentation.

IV. All procured supplies must be delivered at the headquarters for Headquarters Logistics and Stores unit to do the documentation in their books before issuing out.

All monies left from the procurement budget line of USD 500, 009 which figure was mentioned by Mr. Asante during the Koforidua meeting to be in the region of USD 201,000.00 is to be lodged immediately in the below provided National Account;

Ghana Red Cross Society
Fidelity Bank: 10500 16710 758
Ridge Tower Branch
Swift Code: FBLIGHAC

VI. The Other Monies left in the Project Account opened in Cape Coast are not to be touched or expended with immediate effect. Any proposed expenditure on this account should seek approval from the Secretary-General who will upon consultations with the Committee give directions.

VII. A new implementation structure or organogram will be drawn at the next meeting of the committee to indicate reporting lines and responsibilities

VIII. The Central Regional Manager is to provide the justifications (receipts) for the amount of GHs 24,480 withdrawn from the account for incorporation into the National Accounts to be prepared on the project. The withdrawals are GHs 6000.00 and GHs 18,480.00 respectively

Signed: Kofi Addo
Secretary-General”

The above email sent to all the team members involved in the project clearly indicates that the national headquarters took over the implementation and assumed full responsibility for the project. Two days after the letter above, Mr. Addo again sent another letter requesting to meet all the suppliers as shown below:

Kofi Addo
To:jeanekow.redcross_cr@yahoo.com
Cc:amickyus@yahoo.com,mamponghene@yahoo.com,Alex Lanbon,anokyere@yahoo.com,thomasaapore72and 1 more...

Fri, Jul 17, 2020, at 5:19 PM

Dear Regional Manager

Management will like to meet all the Suppliers of the COVID-19 goods purchased on Monday, 20 July 2020 at 10:00 hours at the headquarters.

The agenda is to discuss the documentation required, quantities to be supplied, outstanding balances (Money & Supplies) correct any anomalies detected, and modalities for the supplies to be done.

They are also to come with documents relating things to their companies.

Signed: Kofi Addo

Secretary-General

With reference to the letter above, Mr. Addo and his team met the suppliers and agreed with them on the quantity of goods to supply, and refunds to be made to Red Cross. The purported committee even went ahead to pay VAT and the taxes on the monies the suppliers were to refund.

Please indulge me to ask the following Questions:

1. Why did Mr. Addo discard the committee set by the board in Koforidua and constituted his own committee?

2. Why was Mr. Addo having meetings with Mr. Aidoo alone on the project, sometimes on weekends without involving other heads of departments?

3. Is Mr. Addo saying Mr. Aidoo did not tell him everything about the project?

4. Why did Mr. Addo sign the contract and the MoU knowing that the project was to cover other regions as stated in the MoU and the plan of action?

5. Is Mr. Addo saying he didn’t read the MoU and the contract to know the CVs of all the Heads of department and himself were part of the MoU?

6. Since when was a national project handled in a region?

7. Why did Mr. Addo after the MoU and the contract were signed and approved by MasterCard quickly turn around to organise the Koforidua meeting with the aim of involving all the board members and HoDs as soon as he saw that the then Deputy Secretary General (Dr. Eric Asamoah Darko)was involved in the project?

8. Why didn’t the purported committee cancel the suppliers’ contracts after meeting and reviewing their documents?

9. Why didn’t the so-called committee ask the suppliers to supply all the PPEs but rather gave them an account number to pay funds for the unsupplied goods into it?

10. Why did the so-called committee pay tax and VAT on the refund of unsupplied goods?

11. At what point did the so-called committee get to know that two of the suppliers were for the wife of Mr. Aidoo?

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT

The so-called committee took over the implementation of the project as stated in the SG’s letter above, organized the launching of the project at Ho, distributed the PPEs to the regions, and sent funds to the regions for distribution.

They also came out with a new organogram for the project’s implementation and managed it from HQ.

Let me further ask the following questions:

1. How did the so-called committee spend the other budget lines of the project aside from the procurements?

2. How much in total did the committee send to the regions for the running of the project and how did they spend the rest of the budget lines meant for the regions?

3. What is the number of PPEs sent to the regions?

4. How many days did the goods sit at the HQ before distribution?

5. Can the so-called committee tell how monitoring of the project was done by HQ staff:

a. Who went to which region?
b. How many days were they to spend in the region?
c. How many communities did they visit?
d. Where are their monitoring reports?

REPORTING AND ACCOUNTING OF THE PROJECT

All reports were sent to MasterCard by the so-called committee.

Further questions raised:

1. Why did the so-called committee send receipts covering all the procurements to MasterCard knowing very well that not all the PPEs were purchased?

2. Why did the so-called committee rent a warehouse from Ghana Red Cross for 5 months when indeed the goods were kept for less than a month?

3. How did the so-called committee get the receipts for the communication budget knowing for sure that they didn’t spend on that budget line?

4. How did the so-called committee report on all the budget lines meant for the regions but disbursed only part of the funds?

CONCLUSIONS

1. The Kofi Addo’s so-called committee in charge of the implementation of the MasterCard project fictitiously reported and justified some budget lines without spending on same.

2. I Michael Kwame Asante was wrongly accused of receiving Ghc 10,000 from the project funds unlawfully without producing any evidence. As if this was not enough, I was removed from my office, transferred to the HQ without any portfolio, sought to defame me by publicizing my name, and got frustrated until I resigned.

3. I strongly reject and oppose to the report by the disciplinary committee which proffered sanctions against some of us without giving us a hearing first.

The committee’s work was therefore in contravention of natural justice and tented with biased reportage to satisfy someone’s interest.

4. I would be glad and for future reference, if an independent committee is constituted to establish the facts about the MasterCard project and to punish all those culpable for any wrongdoings.