'Kululu' in the demonetisation exercise

CURRENCY NOTES SECRETLY MOVED FROM BANK OF GHANA VAULT! ---Complaining Vault Manager on leave

An official of the Bank of Ghana is very angry and also very worried. Mr. Richard A. Denteh is the official, and he is the Vault Manager in the Issue Department of the Central Bank. And the reason for his anger? Some people in the Bank secretly moved large quantities of money from the Bank Vault during the demonetisation exercise without his knowledge, and yet as the Vault Manager, he must know. Something was very wrong!

So on July 30, 2007, one month after the cedi demonetisation exercise started, he shot off a letter of complaint to his boss, the Head of the Human Resource Department.

He complained that as Vault Manager to Ghana Commercial Bank and the ARB Apex Bank, he was kept in the dark when the following movements of cash were made on May 28, 2007 without his knowledge.

Ghana Commercial Bank-Head Office

Denomination No. of Boxes Type Value

¢20,000 3 Non –Mint ¢3.0 billion

¢10,000 86 Non –Mint ¢43.0 billion

¢5,000 111 Non –Mint ¢27.75 billion

¢1,000 200 Non- Mint ¢10,00 billion ¢83.75 Billion

Apex Bank-Head Office

Denomination No. of Boxes Type Value

¢5,000 381 Mint ¢95.25 billion Apex Bank-Takoradi

¢5,000 29 Mint ¢7.25 billion

¢2,000 9 Mint ¢0.9 billion

¢1,000 470 Non Mint ¢47.0 billion ¢55.15 billion

According to Mr. Denteh, the total of ¢234.15 billion in cash were all moved from the Bank of Ghana Vault at the General Services Complex without his knowledge.

Mr. Denteh’s letter of complaint continued that on July 27, 2007, he had a hint that an amount of ¢44 billion was being shredded at Kade without his knowledge. These had also been moved from the General Services Complex without his knowledge. His boss had only called to inform him that she would be absent the next day without telling him the reason.

Further, the Vault Manager had been kept out of the distribution of the Ghana Cedi (Notes and Coins) even though he was the Vault Manager and the most qualified for the job. He gave the following as the reasons for his anger.

· He had not been given training either local or foreign in connection with the redenomination exercise except being a member of the Logistic Committee even though as Vault Manager he took delivery of the imported Ghana Cedi (notes and coins) at both the Kotoka International Airport and the Tema Harbour;

· He nearly lost his life in an aircraft accident on June 14, 2007 when he was on board an aircraft taking delivery of Ghana cedi coins;

· As at the time of writing, none of the accounts of the branches and agencies of the Commercial Banks which received imprest in respect of the Ghana Cedis (Notes and Coins) had been debited due to non-availability of proper documentation to effect entries at both the Issue and Banking Departments;

· In some cases; waybills were issued to the Branches and Agencies and the Commercial Banks without values.

Mr. Denteh also complained that certain decisions are taken in the Vault where he is the Head, which makes him very uncomfortable. He gave the following as examples:

· In May 2007, the contractors engaged by the Bank of Ghana to refurbish the Complex Vaults broke into Vault 5 where the bulk of the coins are kept without his knowledge and coins were exposed from Friday to Monday;

· Even though he as the Vault Manager has the keys to the cabinet of all the safe custody items, including the State Sword, he was asked to surrender the keys to only the Gold Bars one year ago;

· He is made by his boss, the Head of Issue, to take instructions from his assistant, Mr. Emmanuel Akushie Codjoe, creating the impression that there are two Vault Managers and that Mr. Codjoe is preferred.

Mr. Denteh also complained that four weeks prior to his letter of complaint, the Head of Issue made certain allegations against him to the Executives of the Senior Staff Association which she could not substantiate.

With all these developments, balancing of the Vault Books had become very difficult. In particular, it was very difficult to balance the June 30, 2007 [the day before the demonetisation exercise started-Ed] books.

In a plaintive and pleading tone, and against the background of all these developments, Mr. Denteh requested that steps be taken to address the concerns he had raised or else he should be transferred from the Vault.

When Ghana Palaver tried to contact Mr. Denteh for some background, we were told he was on leave. His boss, the Head of the Human Resources Department, however, confirmed having received Mr. Denteh’s letter to a sister paper but declined to make any comments.