The Eastern Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has in a space of three and half years blown a whopping GH¢106,000.00 on rent for two regional directors posted to the region following the directors’ outright rejection of the state bungalow allocated to them.
The abandoned bungalow served as accommodation for previous directors, but the new directors will have none of that.
During the tenure of the immediate past regional director, Dr. McDemien Dedzo, the directorate rented an apartment for him that cost the state GH¢3, 000.00 a month. Consequently, the health directorate paid a total of GH¢72, 000.00 for the two years he stayed in office (2012-2014).
The current regional director, Dr. Charity Sarpong after taking over in 2014, also rejected the government bungalow allocated to her. A six-bedroom apartment at Atekyem, a suburb in the New Juaben Municipality at a cost of GH¢2,000.00 a month was, therefore, rented for her. Consequently, for the past 17 months, an amount of GH¢34, 000.00 has been expended.
In total, an amount of GH¢106,000.00 has been spent to house the two directors. This has raised nagging questions over the appropriateness of spending such an amount on rent instead of renovating the old bungalow.
Investigations conducted by the DAILY HERITAGE further revealed that the bungalow which has now been abandoned has been surrounded by reptiles who have found comfort in the bushy compound. The directorate has, however, overlooked the precarious state of the bungalow citing lack of finance.
The former regional director, Dr. Dedzo in an interview justified that the GH¢3,000.00 monthly rent was value for money since the apartment had all the needed facilities needed, as well as a standby generator. According to him, he rejected the official apartment because it was not in good shape.
In an interview with the current Eastern Regional director of the GHS, Dr. Sarpong, she explained that when she took over in 2014, she realized the official apartment needed renovation and that explained why the directorate rented the apartment for her.
She said she never dictated the type of apartment to be provided and stressed that the cost of the rented apartment was less expensive compared to her predecessor's rent cost.
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