The Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS) is on a collision course with members of the board of the organisation as the presidential appointees fume over what they consider as Vincent Kuagbenu�s acts of impropriety and arrant contempt for them.
Having countenanced what the board members regard as Kuagbenu�s disrespect, including his description of them as useless, one of them (name withheld) has written formally to the chairman of the Council of State, demanding action to save the NSS from running aground.
The board member alluded to a litany of financial misdemeanours and outright breach of procurement procedures against the Executive Director in the 19th September, 2011 correspondence.
This story is coming on the heels of a recent PR-laced visit to an NSS farm in the Central Region, with Vice President John Mahama in attendance. Those conversant with the internal politics and muffled grumbling at the NSS regarded the farm visit as a veneer for the untoward activities characterizing Vincent Kuagbenu�s tenure.
According to the correspondence, Mr. Kuagbenu refused to take possession of the scheme�s residence at Haatso on assumption of office and rather acquired one from the Ministry of Works and Housing and Water Resources at an expensive cost to the scheme.
As if that was enough breach of standard procedure, the Executive Director took an amount of GH�80,000 to renovate the residence, alongside an expenditure of GH�19,000 to furnish the building. A generator worth GH�23,000 was provided for the accommodation, with decisions for the foregone having been taken unilaterally with no input from the board members, the correspondence stated.
Regarding the procurement breaches, Mr Kuagbenu is said to have stated in his 23rd August 2011 report to the board that the scheme procured 100 computers, 50 printers, 11 photocopiers, 100 UPS, 80 vertical drawer chairs, 100 pieces swivel chairs, 50 writing desks, 30 motorbikes and five 4�4 pickups.
The board member said although the Executive Director explained that procurement procedures were adhered to, investigations proved otherwise, especially since only the pickups were advertised.
Estimated cost of the items is as follows:
Four pickups����.GH�238,342.00
30 motorbikes ���GH�204,000.00
100 computers���.GH�130,000.00
50 printers������.GH�17,840.00
11 photocopiers���.GH�25,856.00
100 UPS��������.GH�11,500.00
Eighty drawer chairs, 100 swivel chairs and 50 writing desks cost GH�74,750,000, with everything totaling GH�518, 288.000.
With no regard for board members, staffers working under Mr Kuagbenu dare not cross his path lest they incur his wrath and even sanctions such as dismissals. A certain Mr. Arcimoore, then Deputy Director in charge of Operations, was dismissed under inexplicable circumstances, having suffered the wrath of Mr. Kuagbenu.
Kuagbenu is being accused of taking policy decisions in total disregard for the board, according to the correspondence, a case in point being the commencement of military training this year, a decision he took unilaterally and even announced without consulting the board members.
According to the board member, Kuagbenu had also decided that national service personnel would be uniformed this year, a project which required the purchase of materials and engagement of tailors or contractors.
The correspondence said Mr Kuabgenu�s disdain for board members was evidenced by his refusal to attend a two-day board meeting on 23 and 24th August 2011, without leaving a message or even offering an explanation for it.
When he was queried, he dramatized his response to the board by stating that he was ill and that the doctor asked that he remain incommunicado, an excuse which later proved to be untrue because he was found to be working on the Komenda farm of the scheme at the time.
Perhaps, the worst humiliation suffered by the board was when its chairman had to turn up for a stakeholders� conference in a taxi cab because Mr. Kuagbenu had asked the driver assigned to pick him not to go for the assignment at Teshie where the chairman lives.
The balance sheet of the Ejura Farms of the NSS is a worrying detail, with the GH�123,000 pilot project posting an income of GH�103,740.00, against a deficit of GH�19,260.
The letter noted that in spite of the inherent unsound economic sense in the venture, the gentleman had replicated it at Komenda, Chochoe, Okyereko (Central Region), Ejura (Ashanti Region), Branam (Brong Ahafo), Anyaboni (Eastern Region) and Dawhenya (Greater Accra Region), all of which already sapping an amount of GH�190,000.
The conclusion of the letter spoke volumes about the source of the Executive Director�s arrogance and disrespect.
�Honourable Chairman, I pray that as Presidential Councilors, you will digest this submission with objectivity to save this strategic institution meant to awaken the inherent patriotic instincts in our youth from this boy and his political godfathers.�
DAILY GUIDE sent a questionnaire to Vincent Kuagbenu two months ago, raising issues about the unilateral decision to give uniforms to national servicemen and the ceding of the task of posting to a consultant with no recourse to the board members. There has been no acknowledgement of receipt or answers to the questions.
The Ghana National Service Scheme is powered by the GNSS Act 426 of 1980, Sect 10(1) which states, �The governing body of the scheme is the National Service Board�.
The board, by this legislation, includes the Executive Director whose term of reference is mainly to formulate policies. Until government explains beyond reasonable doubt the limitations of the Executive Director, vis-�-vis the board, his position that the latter is only performing an advisory role would hold sway to the detriment of the scheme, DAILY GUIDE has learnt.
With his occasional bragging that nobody can remove him from his position, perhaps he knows what he is talking about in a system where cronyism plays a major role in appointment longevity.
Maybe, now that the board members have squirmed and fired such a correspondence to the chairman of the Council of State, the end of Vincent Kuagbenu�s fiefdom is drawing near.
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