Adom-Otchere Dragged to CHRAJ; Set to be Prosecuted Over ‘Expensive’ KIA Xmas Tree

Paul Adom Otchere, has been dragged by a private citizen to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for his involvement in procuring expensive Christmas tree inspirations for the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

In a petition signed and filed by one Sacut Amenga-Etego, who is a journalist in Accra, Paul Adom-Otchere as the board chairman of the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL), misused public funds in the procurement of the Christmas tree inspirations at KIA.

He said, he is of the firm belief that Adom-Otchere and GACL did not properly use the public funds adding that: “the right conduct by public office holders are key in our quest to building a prosperous nation.

“I also hold this to be a self-evident truth, that insisting that public officers live by the rules set out to safeguard public funds and ensure fairness in accessing public resources, is the only way to make Ghana a better place for us all. It is in this spirit that I submit this petition to CHRAJ,” parts of the petition read.

The petition further stated that Paul Adom-Otchere, who is also the host of Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV revealed on the January 7, 2022, edition of his show that, “in his capacity as the board chairman of GACL, [the company] used public funds in procuring Christmas trees for GACL.”

Sacut Amenga-Etego, in his petition, explained further that, “by inviting two vendors to submit quotations for the decoration, by not following the National Competitive Tendering procedures, by splitting the transactions into two to avoid the GHC100,000.00 price quotation threshold and by meddling in the procurement process, Paul Adom-Otchere has caused multiple injuries to the Public Procurement Act, Act 663 and the Public Financial Management Act, and also breached the principles of corporate governance.”

Therefore, the petitioner is seeking that CHRAJ declares that “Paul Adom-Otchere has breached several provisions of the Public Procurement Law, the Public Financial Administration Law, and the principles of corporate governance in the case of the procurement of Christmas trees for GACL in December 2021.

“An order for GACL to surcharge the perpetrator of the breaches i.e. Paul Adom-Otchere for the amounts involved in the breaches and recommend his removal as board chairman of the company.

“A referral of the case by CHRAJ to the appropriate prosecutorial authorities and recommend prosecution of Paul Adom-Otchere.”

Source: ghanaweb