NADMO Boss Steals Relief Items

Investigations Conducted by Daily Guide have revealed that the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipal Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), John Prince Mensah, also known as �Reverend�, was last Tuesday arrested by the Elmina Police Command for allegedly stealing some relief items belonging to his outfit. Daily Guide�s findings revealed that the relief items were to be distributed to Ivorian refugees who had moved to the municipality due to the recent civil war in Ivory Coast. A source close to the paper disclosed that Rev. Mensah was arrested on Tuesday, around 7am, based on a tip off. The Elmina Police Command were informed that the KEEA NADMO officer had been smuggling some of the relief items, including sugar, rice, students� mattresses, rubber mats and other items, amounting to hundreds of Ghana cedis. The source said the NADMO boss usually sent the items to his house at Elmina Bantuma in the evenings, when work in the assembly had ended, a situation that compelled the Elmina court to issue a search warrant to enable the police to search the suspect�s house, where they found two rubber mats his kids sleep on. The source further revealed that on the March 29, 2011, around 1:49am, Rev. Mensah arrived with a pick-up registered GV 332 Z, which was loaded with some relief items. The reverend loaded 7 packaged sets of students� mattresses, with the help of the driver, into his room, and gave some big mattresses to the driver to take away. At about 9:25pm the same day, Rev. Mensah went home with a red coloured taxi registered CR 369 U with the inscription �John�, and loaded the car with the mattresses, after which the driver sent them to an unknown destination. According to investigations by Daily Guide, this has been going on for some time. The Reverend steals the relief items and sends them to his sister�s provision shop at Elmina, for her to sell, after which they split the proceeds. A source close to the KEEA assembly who spoke to DAILY GUIDE on anonymity, confirmed the issue, adding that the driver of the pick-up, one Tawiah, and the taxi driver, had all been invited by the police for their statements. When contacted, Rev. Mensah debunked allegations levelled against him and attributed the issue to the fact that he was not on talking terms with the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of KEEA, Veronica Essuman Nelson, who had sworn to disgrace him. Daily GuideUIDE�s investigations in the KEEA assembly revealed that Rev. Mensah and some other workers were not on good terms with the MCE because she was disrespectful towards her workers. In an interview with the Deputy Central Regional Coordinator of NADMO, Sandy Amartey, he also debunked the issue, saying it was not true. He added that his outfit had not officially received any complaint, but they had heard rumours to that effect. Daily Guide can state on authority that Mr. Amartey, together with a colleague, met at a hotel in Elmina, closer to Rev. Mensah�s house, where they pleaded with the informant who disclosed the nefarious activities of the NADMO officer to the MCE, in order to salvage the image of the organisation and the assembly. Attempts to get the MCE of KEEA to comment on the issue proved futile as her mobile phone was switched off.