By Conrad Kadbry
The Kyedomhene of the Nkonya-Wurupong Traditional area, Nana Kofi Ampedu II, has been arraigned before the Jasikan Circuit Court presided over by His Lordship Justice Lambert Kariba in the Jasikan Municipality for fraudulent acts against the Biakoye Community Senior High School (CSHS) in the Biakoye District of the Oti Region.
The 69-year-old chief was charged with two other accomplices, a 39-year-old farmer, Nana Kwasi Obiadie II, and a 58-year-old man, Collins Yeboah, who is a valuer, all residents of Nkonya-Wurupong.
Presenting the facts of the case before the court, the Prosecutor, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr William Kassah, said the complainant, Mr Clemens Gyato, who is the Ghana National Peace Ambassador (GNPA), a businessman and also a native of Nkonya-Wurupong but resides in Accra, narrated that somewhere in 2015, he bought 300 bunk beds at the cost of GHC 151,500.00 in addition to 1,010 student mattresses for the CSHS at Nkonya-Wurupon.
According to ASP Kassah, upon arrival of the items, Nana Obiadie, an accomplice who was in charge of education at the Wurupong community, and Collins Yeboah, another accomplice, received the beds and mattresses on behalf of the school.
The prosecutor said the items were packed in one of the school’s dormitories and an invoice issued to Nana Kwasi Obiadie and Collins Yeboah when the school was still under the care of the community. Prior to the absorption of the school into the public stream, the Kyedomhene and one Christiana Mintah, now deceased, were recruited by the community to take charge of the administration of the school.
ASP Kassah continued that in 2018, the school was absorbed by government but there was no headmaster to run the affairs of the school. Nana Ampadu, the Kyedomhene and Christiana Mintah continued to be in charge of the school, and they made the first admission of students as government controlled school and the donated items were in the custody of Kyedomhene and the two accomplices.
ASP Kassah said in 2020 Christiana Dzifa Fudjoe was posted to the school as the substantive headmistress, who took over the affairs of the school from Nana Ampadu, and that was when the fraudulent acts started unfolding.
The prosecutor said Mr Gyato, the complainant who made the donation of the beds and mattresses, said information available to him was that the 1,010 student mattresses donated to the school were not fully declared to the school, as some of the items were still in the custody of Nana Ampadu and his two accomplices, and therefore reported the matter to the police at Nkonya-Ahenkro.
ASP Kassah said during investigations, it was detected that out of the 1,010 students mattresses donated to the school, only 463 were given to the school by the accused persons, while 547 mattresses valued at the cost of GHC 82,050.00 could not be accounted for.
The accused persons, according to the prosecution, were later arrested, and they told the police in their statement that they received the items donated by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and were issued with invoices covering 600 mattresses and 300 beds and not 1,010 mattresses as stated by the complainant but could not produce the said invoices to the police.
The prosecutor said in the course of the investigation, duplicate of the docket was sent to the Attorney General’s (AG’s’) office in Ho for advice, and the accused persons were later invited to the AG’s office in Ho, where they produced copies of waybills with numbers 0000033 dated 4-3-2016 and numbers 0000038 dated 23-3-2016 from a company with the inscription ‘’Ajalida Enterprise‘’ located in Accra at Mamprobi purported to have issued the invoices covering the items.
The accused persons also showed vehicle numbers with the registration GR 7012-13 and GT 7823-13 indicated on the waybills as vehicles that brought the bed and the mattresses, which later was found out to be false.
The Counsel for the accused, Lawyer Afagbe Senanu pleaded with the court to allow for further investigation into the matter, since the accused is a traditional ruler, and the presiding judge His Lordship Justice Kariba adjourned the case to January 9, 2025.
