Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Clement Kofi Humado has been cited in the Auditor-General’s Report for dolling out GHc430million to sixteen unqualified service providers to execute various jobs under the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA).
The Report for the year ending, December 31, 2013, indicated that the Agency which was under the Ministry of Youth and Sports, did not do due diligence to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the service providers it engaged before awarding them various contracts amounting to GHc429,194,642.00 to provide training services to targeted beneficiaries.
This lapse, the Auditor-General noted, was an affront to the Procurement Act and other laws of the land governing such transactions. He has, therefore, recommended that Mr. Humado and the National Coordinator for GYEEDA, responsible for the award of those contracts, be questioned for failing to abide by the laws of the land.
Among the service providers that were cited in the GYEEDA rot include; Asongtaba Cottage Industry Limited, Zeera Group Company, New Vision Consult, Craftpro Limited, Goodwill International Group (GIP) and Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI).
Some of the service providers, according to the report, provided services in the area of fowl rearing, youth in bicycle riding, mobile phone repairs, filling of potholes, dress making, beads making, carving and weaving.
The report further observed that Mr. Humado, together with other ministers and the National Coordinator, Mr. Abuga Pele, failed to adhere to the provision of the Procurement Act in ensuring that the service providers had professional and technical qualifications and competence; financial resources, equipment and other physical facilities, managerial capability, reliability, experience in the procurement object and reputation; and the personnel to perform the procurement contract.
It also argued that for the year 2012 fiscal year, GYEEDA over run its budgetary allocation of GH¢20,000,0000 for goods and services amounting to GH¢199,311,753 which was released through the Ministry of Youth and Sports accounts.
However, it noted that an approved supplementary budget could not be sighted, contrary to Regulation 170 (2) of FAR 2004, which enjoins departmental heads to ensure that expenditure shall not exceed the expenditure estimates in the approved budget.
“The minister failed to adhere to other provisions of the Regulation that states that if a need arise for expenditure for a purpose for which no sum of money has been appropriated by the Appropriation Act, supplementary budget estimates showing the sum required, shall be laid before Parliament for approval”, the Report noted.
The Report further recommended that an amount of GH¢199,311,753 released to five companies should be investigated. GYEEDA, having gone through various scandals, has been rebranded by the Government under the new name Youth Employment Agency (YEA) of which the Act regulating its activities was recently passed by Parliament.
Currently, Mr. Abuga Pele as well as the Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill International Group (GIG), and the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI), Mr. Phillip Assibit, are on trial over various scandals perpetuated under the Agency.
No charges have, however, been pressed against Mr. Humado, who was reassigned to head the Ministry of Food and Agriculture but is being used by the State as a prosecution witness.
www.ghananewshub.com reported that on Monday, Mr. Eric Sunu, an Accountant at the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department told the Finance and Tax High Court that payment of monies to Goodwill International Group (GIG) and the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) under the GYEEDA, were sanctioned by the then Minister for Youth and Sport, Clement Kofi Humado.
According to him, a total amount of GH¢4.2 million was paid into the account of MDPI and GIG as work done for the Agency between 2011 and 2012, all of which were approved by the minister.
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