Whistleblower sacked from KATH runs to Special Prosecutor over COVID cash

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has been petitioned to investigate the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Dr. Oheneba Owusu Danso for the withdrawal of Ghc106,000 allegedly meant for prominent people.

In the petition, the petitioner, Awuni Akyireba, who was recently sacked by KATH disclosed that he cannot fathom why the hospital faced with numerous challenges,  withdrew such a whopping sum for such purposes.

“That KATH faces a lot of challenges such as inadequate beds that have resulted in deaths of patients, lack of HBA1C, LFT, Beta-HCG, PSA, hepatitis C RNA laboratory reagents to run basic Labs tests like spoilt elevators at D-block and C-block, leaking roofs when it rains, clumsy and unkempt floor of the wards, broken windows that allow mosquitoes to infest patients with additional sickness on the ward among a slew of others,” a portion of the petition disclosed.

He continued “That in spite of the challenges as enumerated above, the CEO, Dr. Oheneba Owusu Danso, caused for the withdrawal from Fidelity Bank KATH Service Account, cheque number 212147 an amount of Ghc 106,000 on the 23rd of December 2020.

“This was used for what he described as management token in appreciation for certain prominent personalities. This is utterly strange because a hospital with such enormous problems that solicits assistance from prominent people cannot be paying money rather to prominent people.”

P. O. Box 854,
Kumasi, Ashanti.
9th December, 2021.

The Special Prosecutor,
Office of the Special Prosecutor,
Accra.

PETITION TO INVESTIGATE CEO OF KATH, DR. OHENEBA OWUSU DANSO, OVER ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION OF PAYMENT OF GHC 106,000 TO PROMINENT PEOPLE ON THE 23RD DECEMBER 2020.

I write to invoke your jurisdiction pursuant to section 2,3(1b and c) of the Special Prosecutor Act of 2017 Act 959 to undertake the above stated function.

1. That I am a trained Certified Chartered Forensic Accountant and a member of staff at KATH for over eleven years.
2. That in the year 2020, when Ghana recorded Covid-19 cases, prominent individuals, philanthropists and civil society groups having aroused by the consternation of the pandemic, made various donations to KATH in varied forms to augment government’s effort and to fortify the hospital in the fight against the pandemic. Notable among them were liquid cash of dollars donated by Kwame Despite and Kwadwo Asamoah of $100,000 and $20,000 respectively.
3. That KATH faces a lot of challenges such as inadequate beds that have resulted in deaths of patients, lack of HBA1C, LFT, Beta-HCG, PSA, hepatitis C RNA, laboratory reagents to run basic Labs tests like spoilt elevators at D-block and C-block, leaking roofs when it rains, clumsy and unkempt floor of the wards, broken windows that allow mosquitoes to infest patients with additional sickness on the ward among a slew of others.
4. That the CEO at a performance review meeting and business meeting of the hospital has stated that all the directorates of the hospital incurred losses in the year under review which cumulative loss was about Ghc 6.2million wherefore the hospital was unable to pay end of year 2020 bonuses to members of staff and meet the logistical needs of the hospital such as listed in point 3 above. And just on the 29th of October, 2021, the Acting Head of Directorate of Trauma and Orthopaedics Directorate had to write to suspend all orthopaedics surgeries at the A&E theatre due to unavailability of theatre tables.
5. That in spite of the challenges as enumerated above, the CEO, Dr. Oheneba Owusu Danso, caused for the withdrawal from Fidelity Bank KATH Service Account, cheque number 212147 an amount of Ghc 106,000 on the 23rd of December 2020. This was used for what he described as management token in appreciation for certain prominent personalities. This is utterly strange because a hospital with such enormous problems that solicits assistance from prominent people cannot be paying money rather to prominent people.
6. In the spirit of transparency and accountability of the use of public funds, the identity and the purpose for such payment should be known and made in accordance with laws governing the use of public funds.

Have my assurance to assist you fully in this endeavour to punish any wrong doing and to sanitize the management system of our only premier tertiary hospital serving Asanteman to enhance quality health care that Asanteman and its environs deserve.

Humbly submitted, Yours in the service of Ghana.

Awuni Akyireba
(0242534421) And for service on:

1. Internal Audit Unit(KATH)
2. H. R. M. Otumfour Osei Tutu II