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Some workers of Akosombo Hotel Limited (AHL) have petitioned the Energy Minister Mr Boakye Agyarko to institute serious investigations into allegations of corruption and misappropriation at the Akosombo Hotel Limited.

The petitioners want the Minister to investigate issues related to  the  on-going gym and spa project at AHL, Personal project of the General Manager at Senchi, the installation of CCTV (closed circuit television) at AHL, the building of the Dodi princess boat  and the unnecessary  Influence of the General Manager

A document cited by the New Crusading Guide said “In April, 2015, we noticed that there were some capital intensive projects that had commenced and some had reached advanced stage. One of them is the on-going gym and spa project. In one of our operational meetings, we were told by the General Manager that air conditioners will have to be procured for the project. At that meeting we asked of the contract sum of the project and we were told that it was GHS1.6 million. This includes the furniture, fittings and the furnishes (F, F&F) needed. We noticed that the contract sum of GHS1.6 million was rather on the high side. we therefore asked why the need to procure air conditioners when the contract sum included all the F, F&F’s needed”.

 The statement noted that “The General Manager could not offer any tangible answer except to shut us down to close the discussion on the matter. Later on, it turned out that the wiring for the CCTV installation on the gym and spa project also had serious flaws. As management staff we requested to see the contract details covering the project, this was turned down. Our checks with similar projects in other places indicate that the contract sum of GHS1.6 million was a huge inflation for a two storey gym and spa project. This led us to personally inquire into the project and we made the following observations highlighted in the preceding paragraphs”.

General Manager’s personal building project at Senchi and matters arising

 The statement indicated that In the course of the   inquiry, it turned out that the General Manager was also seriously putting up five houses at New Senchi, close to the Royal Senchi Resort. Interestingly, the guys engaged to supply the air conditioners are the same guys installing air conditioners in this five storey building project being put up by the General Manager.

“Additionally, the guys (artisans, craftsmen, masons etc.) working on the gym and spa project are the same people working on his personal project at Senchi. He claimed the project is for his sister and yet he was using the hotel carpenter and painter extensively on his project”.

CCTV INSTALLATION AT AHL AND MATTERS ARISING

“Another interesting revelation we made was on the installation of CCTV at the main hotel. We noticed that the installation was poorly done and the quality of the cameras were questionable. He engaged Goldsbeck technologies without any competitive bidding process to install the CCTV at the Hotel. When it came to the fore that the installation was poorly done and that the cameras were inferior, he decided to engage another company to come and re install the CCTV cameras again. The contract of Goldsbeck was subsequently terminated”, the statement noted.

“Again, our investigation indicated that the termination of gold beck’s contract, later led to the splitting of the company. The General Manager subsequently engaged the other splitting partner to come and reinstall the CCTV at the Hotel again. The shocking revelation we made was that the General Manager was receiving kickbacks from every single job he assigned to Goldsbeck. This included the installation of CCTV on the dodi princess, the gym and spa and the main hotel. Mr George Simpson of Goldsbeck willingly made this sad revelation to us during one of our conversation on phone and he agreed for us to record the conversation. Mr. Simpson even offered to provide pay-in-slips of monies he has personally paid to the general Manager, Mr. Bart-Plange’s account”, the statement noted, it stressed.

“Secondly, from the accounting records of the Hotel, the cost of the reinstallation of the new cctv cameras was rather less than the initial installation sum which lends credence to the fact that the initial cost of the project was inflated by the general manager so as, to benefit from the kickbacks arising therefrom” the statement indicated.

Furthermore, it also turned out from the conversation with Mr. George Simpson that the General Manager was behind the formation of the Goldsbeck and he has been using his influence to secure projects for the company in return for his cut. This arrangement has subsisted for a long time and has stifled the company from procuring durable equipment for their operations, it noted further.

THE DODI PRINCESS BOAT BUILDING PROJECT AND MATTERS ARISING

The petitioners said “We read two interesting publications in the daily statesman and the crusading guide newspapers on the dodi princess boat. The publications were dated 29th June, 2016 and 5th July, 2016 respectively and was centred on the financial improprieties associated with the award of the boat contract to Onur Makina, a Turkish company engaged to build the dodi princess boat. The papers also raised issues with the non-availability of the original contract covering the boat transaction and some bizarre payments made to MET insurance company and bemmarine, a local company engaged to provide inspection and validation services in line with international marine standards”.

“Prior to this publication, we requested to see the boat contract but to no avail. We arel also aware that the initial period for the delivery of the dodi princess boat was about seven (7) months effective 2013 when the contract was signed. Three years down the line, the boat project has not been completed. It is still incapacitated and has become a subject of convoluted litigation between Management of the Hotel and Onur Makina. Onur Makina have abandoned the 176 seater capacity boat project and have returned to their country. The original contract detailing the contractual obligations of the parties including delivery timelines could not be provided by the Board chairman of the Hotel, Mr. Kirk Koffi. The contract could also not be provided by the General Manager, Mr. Fred Bart-Plange when he was contacted”.

“The sad thing about the project is that after sinking GHS3.5 million cedis into this 176 seater capacity boat and the payment of insurance and inspection charges, the boat can barely move three hundred (300) meters without recording over heating in its engines. It is also instructive to note that the original dodi princess that got burnt in 2012 was built by the Maritime Services Unit (MSU) of the VRA with the technical support of a German marine engineer named Hans Heins in 1991. The MSU, prior to the construction of this new boat, were side lined by the General Manager citing in-experience and lack of capacity to handle the project as the reasons accounting for why they were not given the boat construction project.  This clearly, to all intense and purposes, was false. The MSU were side lined to create fertile grounds for the General Manager and his cronies to accumulate inordinate gains from the project at the expense of the Hotel and the VRA”.

“Moreover, the General Manager who was supervising the project lacked the technical competence to provide supervision for such projects. Yet, he was the one handling the supervision of the project with the support of his cronies at the VRA. This arrangement clearly lined up a clear motive. The motive to create, loot and share”.

INFLUENCE BY THE GENERAL MANAGER

 “The General Manager has always used his influence to weave his way out of situations like this. He has influence over the board of the Hotel led by Kirk Koffi, the Chief executive of VRA. Recently, two board members were sponsored by the Hotel to attend a two-week training program on governance in Dubai at a total cost of about GHS10,000.00. This was financed by the Hotel. This was at a time the management claimed the business was not good. As a result, Management could only offer staff 12% salary adjustment in the on-going wage re-opener negotiation”.

“The Hotel has been ceding bed nights to Seji Home, a new guest house in Akosombo when we have conferences that involve more than thirty-five persons. This new guest house belonged to the Board Chairman of the Hotel, Mr. Kirk Koffi. The General Manager was actively involved in securing fire permits, extinguishers, fixtures and fittings for this new guest house. The General Manager has also instructed that all excess conference overflows should be sent to Seji Homes before any other facility is given further consideration. In spite of this arrangement, Seji Home most of the time determines the rate to charge the hotel”.

“It is this influence and many others that is giving the General Manager, Mr Fred Bart-Plange, the spine to maltreat staff, take arbitrary and capricious decisions, vary decisions of the board, put on hold audit recommendations and many others including taking kickbacks and circumventing sound procurement practices with impunity. As a result, the Hotel has been recording losses for the past three years (2013, 2014, 2015) and in all likelihood we will record another loss in 2016”.

“In the light of the above, I will be grateful, if you could use your good office to direct the interdiction of the General Manager, Fred Bart-Plange to pave way for independent investigations into these matters”, the statement added.