The Ho Municipal Supply Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES) who was arrested recently for allegedly stealing and selling government teaching and learning materials, has been granted bail together with his alleged accomplice.
Wisdom Atawiah was arrested after the police had picked up his purported accomplice, one Newton Fiagbor of Azumah Bookshop, for selling the materials meant for free distribution to schools in the Ho municipality as part of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.
The Volta Regional Police Commander, DCOP Nana Asomah Hinneh, told DAILY GUIDE that the two were granted bail to allow the police gather enough evidence and also arrest a third suspect who is currently at large.
Narrating how the syndicate was arrested, he said the police picked up intelligence about the diverted teaching and learning materials. Upon further intelligence and investigations, Newton, a shop attendant, was whisked away by the police on Wednesday, 4th September, 2017.
After a thorough search of the shop, the following materials were found: 171 boxes of white chalk, 536 Technical Drawing and Sketchbooks, 140 pieces of crayons and eight pieces of English textbooks for Primary 3 and
22 pieces of Longman Dictionary, but Newton claimed that the Dictionaries were not supplied to him by Wisdom, but one Dickson, whom the police had identified as Dickson Yahezu. All the books had the ‘Not for Sale’ stamps on them tampered with to deceive unsuspecting public.
According to an Accra-based radio station, the items were being sold at lower prices, compared to those on the open market. For instance, other brands of Technical Drawing and Sketchbooks sell at GH¢7.00 each while those from the GES with the ‘Not for Sale’ stamps were being sold at GH¢5.00 each.
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