200 Bags Of Cement Scandal Hits GNFS?

Efforts to reduce, if not eradicate, corruption and in accordance with each Ghanaian being a citizen and not a spectator as espoused by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, many individuals and organisations have focused their lenses on the operations of many state-owned institutions.

Ghanaian anti-graft coalition, Corruption Watch, says it has uncovered the diversion of donated cements meant for the building of offices by the Tema New Town District Command of the Ghana National Fire Service.

The cements, according to the coalition, were donated by the Ghana Cement Foundation in response to a request made by the Tema New Town District of GNFS.

In spite of the specific nature of the request, the 200 bags of cement mysteriously ended up in a private shop and have subsequently been sold either with or without the knowledge of the GNFS.

According to Corruption Watch, 136 out of the 200 bags of cement have been sold off.
According to the investigation, in 2017, the GNFS wrote a letter to GHACEM for bags of cement to construct two new offices for its officers because the station had limited offices to serve, a project the DFO, Naomi Quarshie, said was to promote work by the GNFS personnel.

According to the District Officer (DFO), Naomi Quarshie, she applied for and received the 200 bags of cement on behalf of the GNFS but was quick to add that the bags of cement never made it to the storeroom/warehouse either at the district, regional or national level.

“The purpose for which I applied for the cement has not been achieved,” she retorted helplessly.

The Acting Director for Strategy and Corporate Affairs for GHACEM, Solomon Ayiah, who was not impressed with the developments, assured the general public that the company would conduct an independent internal investigation based on the findings of the coalition.

The Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, Mr Okoe, responding to the investigations, disclosed that per the policy of the institution, donations received at any district office must be transferred to the regional and then to the national offices if they both lacked the facility to store the donations received.

According to him, the GNFS follows the Public Procurement Law for storage hence a breach of procedure has a punitive measure to be meted out to all culprits.