Ras Mubarak, National Coordinator of the National Youth Authority (NYA), has reacted to the allegations leveled by a Director of Finance of the authority, a certain Aminu Abdulai, pointing out that he was not surprised at the turn of events.
�I was not surprised when I got emails from Ghana about the publication as there were hints he intended dragging my name in the mud. I was only surprised it had taken him so long,� he said.
He has threatened legal action against the gentleman and the media channels which reproduced what he described as �vile allegations and defamation by this aggrieved public servant, who ought to have used official public service channels to address grievances if he felt hard-done-by, but instead went to the media in a very desperate attempt to drag my good name in the mud.�
Debunking the allegation that he sacked the said staff of the Accountant and Controller General�s Department, he said that I had fired him �for refusing to distribute a whopping GH�450,000″ to our youth institutes certainly is not true;
�That I personally broke into his office is baseless�.
Continuing, he said that �to suggest that I had sacked him clearly shows his level of dishonesty. He is not a staff of the National Youth Authority. He is not on the payroll of the NYA. He is a staff of CAGD and it is only his employer who could relieve him of his work.�
Ras explained that the said officer was seconded to the NYA upon his written request to that effect to the CAGD when the then director went on retirement.
�In the few months that he�d been at the NYA, he had received not less than two queries for various acts of misconduct,� he said, pointing out that �he had woefully failed to meet critical deadlines, leading to some of our external partners writing to formally complain about our failure to meet deadlines of accounting work the officer was tasked to execute.�
That I had taken GH�50,000 of public funds to China is a big fat lie, which I intend to have him proof in open court. As a matter of fact, the Enactus World Cup, which I attended in China was sponsored, from ticket through to accommodation to meals. These allegations are fabrications and nothing more.�
He said that he has written formally to the CAGD informing the head about his decision to send him back due to what he regards as his indiscipline and various acts of misconduct.
On the allegation of forgery, he pointed out that �it is the most bizarre of all his allegations. If we had sent him back to CAGD, it was only proper that I write formally to the Bank of Ghana notifying them that the said officer was no longer with the NYA, and that any cheque bearing his signature should be dishonoured.�
Now the Ministry of Youth and Sports we explained released an amount of GH�450,000 Cedis to the authority as impress.
�As head of the Authority, I needed to prioritize and ensure that there�s a fair allocation of resources,� he said.
I do not know the officer�s understanding of misappropriation of resources, as he alleges and whether the words �accountable impress� mean anything to him, he added.
�I am currently unavailable until Monday 3rd November 2014; as I�m in Baku, Azerbaijan, attending the First Global Forum on Youth Policies, which is fully funded and convened by the Office of the UN Special Envoy on Youth, with partnership from UNDP, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the Government of Azerbaijan,� he said.
To the members of the general public, he asked that they treat �the allegations by the gentleman with the contempt it deserves. I am very focused on the task given to me by the President of Ghana. I am also unfazed and unshaken by such attacks, and no amount of slander, viciousness and one-sided journalism will distract me from focusing on the task of helping advance the cause of the youth of our great country Ghana.�
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