St Augustine�s Health College Owner Likely To Face Fraud Charges

Augustine Sextus Adutwum- Addo, the Proprietor and sole lecturer of the St. Augustine's College of Health Care at Koforidua would soon be dragged to court, the Eastern Regional Command has confirmed.

Speaking exclusively to The New Crusading GUIDE last Thursday in his office, Chief Superintendent Fakye-Kumi, Regional Crime Commander, hinted that the only thing hindering their quest for a speedy prosecution, was the last response from the 4 regulatory bodies his organisation wrote to find out whether Sextus Addo’s Nursing College was recognized in their books.

“Investigations are still on going, we are gathering information. As we speak now three of the four regulatory organisations we wrote to have responded so we shall proceed with an appropriate charge for him immediately the last response comes in”, he noted.

Though he could not readily remember those that had responded except National Vocation Training Institute (NVTI), he said they wrote to Ministry of Health, Nurses and Midwifery Council, NVTI and National Accreditation Board.
The Chief Superintendent made it clear that upon an advice from the Attorney General’s Department, the Police would proceed to charge Sextus Addo appropriately with which he believes would be very soon.

Augustine ‘Sextus’ Adutwum Addo, was arrested early June and detained by the Bureau of National Investigations after some aggrieved students of the mushroom school reported him to the Police on allegations of lack of required accreditation and tutors.
The Police are also investigating why Mr. Adutwum-Addo issued admission letters to the students which had a personal bank account name Hon. Augustine Sextus Adutwum-Addo into which all payments of school fees were to be made. “The account is in his name and not that of the school so it raises and issue of tax evasion”, a Police source told this paper.

The students, according to the source, are demanding a refund of their admission fees and a closure of the school.
However, with the laws that govern suspects, he was granted bail by the police pending investigations to be charged for court.
It would be recalled that this paper recently published a story on how the students were complaining of lack of tutors and teaching facilities among others.

Below is the previous publication by this paper on the matter which led to the arrest of the sole lecturer by the BNI.

The school offers both Certificate and Diploma courses in health care and must be accredited by institutions such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana, National Accreditation Board and the National Vocational Training Institute(NVTI) before commencement of admissions and tuition but unfortunately, none of these institutions have accredited the school.

The unfortunate aspect of the story is that officials of the accrediting institutions say their hands are tied by the law and so they cannot close down the mushroom school.
Lawrence Kwarteng-Ashia, Public Relations Director of the National Accreditation Board told this paper last Wednesday that “the law mandates us to publish names of accredited institutions but it does not give us the power to close schools without accreditation down”.

It came to light that the Proprietor, who is a former Independent Parliamentary Candidate for New Juaben North Constituency, was doubling as the Administrator and lecturer of all the subjects. He is also said to be the host of a program on Sunrise fm, a local radio station based in Koforidua.

“I have never seen any lecturer here since I got admitted about a month ago. He is the only lecturer and he can come here at dawn for lectures. In fact he teaches all subjects which is weird”, narrated a worried student.
The unsuspecting students, mostly from deprived communities are made to fork out a whopping GH¢3,000 admission fee to study a One and half year Certificate course while Diploma students are made to pay Gh¢3600.

Aside the admission fee, students are made to pay Gh¢400 for ICT and Gh¢150 for Clinicals. This paper gathered that all hospitals charge Gh¢50 for clinicals but Sextus Adutwum-Addo has chosen to inflate the fee.

The school is situated in a bush and not fenced exposing the students to clear and present danger. The hostel which is walled is farther into the bush with no security guard as well. The students have to cross a bridge over the Asuoyaa river everyday which is between the college and the bush where their hostel is located.

The school has no signboard but it is very active on facebook, a social media outlet.