The Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Professor Peter Twumasi received over GHC 140,000 in double salaries since assumption of office, the Auditor-General has revealed.
Twumasi, prior to his appointment as Director General of the authority, was an Associate Professor at the department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Per the Auditor-General’s report, he was granted sabbatical leave by the University on January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2021, and paid “basic and market premium in accordance with the University’s condition of service.”
He was, however, appointed to replace Robert Sarfo Mensah who was indicted in Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Tiger Eye PI’s video documentary for alleged corruption within the same period and paid basic salaries and other allowances which resulted in the withdrawal of a double salary.
The Auditor General attributed the irregularity to the “dishonesty” on his part “to the government” and “intention to take advantage to earn more income under the circumstances.”
The money paid to him “could have been used to support the developmental activities of the state,” the Auditor-General noted.
In May 2020, Joy Sports intercepted a letter with No. PS 1845 from the Registrar of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to the Ministry of Youth and Sports with the subject “Drawing double salary from government consolidated fund.” Its content stated that, Prof Twumasi was drawing double, and the Ministry extended an invite to him to discuss the matter on May 14, 2020.
It appears, however, the issue was not resolved as the auditor’s report noted that it continued until December same year.
Another area noted by the auditors in their report is the missing vehicle of Prof Twumasi in September 2019. The car with registration number GX 6551 -18 was stolen at Owass hotel in Kumasi when he visited the Garden City for the final of the 2019 Ghana Fastest Human and President’s Cup match involving Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko at the Baba Yara stadium.
According to the Auditor General, he reported a theft of the vehicle valued at GHC 150,000 to the Board in October 2019, telling them an official report was also made to the police, but “management could not provide the police report to confirm the assertion.
“The anomaly resulted in the Authority being denied the opportunity to use the vehicle for its intended purposes.
“This could also result in financial loss to the state,” a portion of the report added.
The NSA says the vehicle was insured, but has not made claims from the insurance company, which is currently unknown three years after the car was stolen.
The findings of the Auditor General gives credence to allegations made by some staff who petitioned the Board of the NSA and Ministry of Youth and Sports in June this year to have Prof Twumasi investigated.
The 11-point petition has the “missing vehicle and withdrawal of double salary” as the first two points.
Other allegations levelled against include the Director General are procurement breaches, renting of official car without due process, managing NSA as sole proprietor, conflict of interest and many others.
The staff claim he procured Dust bins and “Veronica Buckets” for the Kumasi and Accra sports stadia without approval from the Board and at the time the stadia was close to the general public due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “More importantly the total cost of procuring the dust bins and Veronica Buckets was Ghc 167,112.50 which is beyond his threshold as the entity head and needed to go through the entity tender committee. But the Director General cleverly avoided the entity tender committee by splitting the procurement into two for the same supplier (ACOMA GREEN CONSULT and TEBEE GH. LTD) contravening section 21(5) of the procurement Act, 2003 (Act633).
“Apart from breaching the procurement Act2003 (Act 633) the contract was awarded to a non-existing company. ACOMA GREEN CONSULT AND TEBEE GH. LTD are not registered with the Registrar General Department and could not have bid for the contract. Something definitely is NOT right with this contract.”
FULL PETITION HERE
PETITION AGAINST THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE NATIONAL SPORTS AUTHORITY PROF. PETER TWUMASI TO STEP ASIDE FOR THOROUGH INVESTIGATION
We the undersigned, representing a cross section of workers of the National Sports Authority (NSA) are petitioning the Governing Board of the National Sports Authority (NSA) to direct the Director General of the NSA, Prof. Peter Twumasi, to step aside for investigations to be conducted on his misuse of state resources and abuse of office.
There is substantial evidence of his poor leadership, lack of managerial integrity, inexperience with basic administrative rules, conflict of interest in the award of contracts, breach of procurement laws, misuse of state resources, receipt of double salaries, abuse of office, award of contracts to ghost and non-existing companies and an overall inability to create a safe and positive environment for all workers.
Listed below are some of the issues that we are convinced need to be thoroughly investigated and for which reason we are beseeching you to ask the Director-General to step aside:
DISAPPEARANCE OF A BRAND NEW TOYOTA HILUX PICK-UP WITH REGISTRATION NO. GX 6551-18
The NSA purchased two (2) brand new Toyota Hilux pick-ups which were delivered in December 2018. Due to non availability of vehicles for official and operational use at NSA, the Director General allocated one (1) of the pick-ups to himself as his official vehicle and the other was designated to the pool as an operational vehicle.
In September 2019, the Director General travelled to Kumasi with the pick-up on an official duty. Astoundingly, the vehicle was allegedly stolen at a hotel, with 24 hours security guard (copy attached).
The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the vehicle is still a mystery to almost all staff especially after listening to the driver’s side of the story which was at variance (totally) with the DG’s version of how the car was stolen. The DG told journalists on the 9th September, 2019 that armed robbers attacked the driver and made away with the car which we later found out to be false.(copy attached).
In his report to the NSA management and the MOYS, the DG also claimed that the vehicle was comprehensively insured, but he has up till today failed to report the case of the missing vehicle to the insurance company for replacement. We think this is a very irresponsible posture taken by the DG. If the vehicle was comprehensively insured as required by all government vehicles, how come he is not pursuing the insurance company for replacement or otherwise?
We want this issue properly investigated and if possible the DG be required to produce the insurance certificate because we know that the vehicles have not been insured. It is the request of the petitioners that we get to the bottom of how a state vehicle, less than a year old and comprehensively insured, could be stolen under such puzzling circumstances and yet not replaced.
DOUBLE SALARY
The Director General before his appointment was a staff of the Biochemistry department of KNUST. After his appointment, he did not immediately resign but kept his job with the KNUST and regularly visited the school to teach and received a salary with the excuse that he was not being paid by NSA. Following his confirmation as the substantive Director General of the NSA, his over one (1) year accumulated salary was paid to him by NSA through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.
He, however, consciously failed to declare and refund same to the state. This compelled the Registrar of KNUST to officially write to him (copy attached) in May 2020 drawing his attention to the receipt of double salary which was against the law.
It is the request of the petitioners that this matter be investigated and the monies retrieved and paid into the state coffers.
BREACH OF PROCUREMENT ACT 633 {ACT 2003)
The Director General procured a number of items for the Authority without recourse to the procurement Act 2003 (Act633). In 2020 for example, he procured Dust bins and “Veronica Buckets” for the Kumasi and Accra sports stadia without approval from the Board and at the time the stadia was closed to the general public due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
More importantly the total cost of procuring the dust bins and Veronica Buckets was Ghc 167,112.50 which is beyond his threshold as the entity head and needed to go through the entity tender committee. But the Director General cleverly avoided the entity tender committee by splitting the procurement into two for the same supplier (ACOMA GREEN CONSULT and TEBEE GH. LTD) contravening section 21(5) of the procurement Act, 2003 (Act633).
Apart from breaching the procurement Act2003 (Act 633) the contract was awarded to a non-existing company. ACOMA GREEN CONSULT AND TEBEE GH. LTD are not registered with the Registrar General Department and could not have bid for the contract. Something definitely is NOT right with this contract.
Again in 2021, the Director General awarded a contract to the wife’s Business partner (FIO ENTERPRISES LTD) for the supply of rice and cooking oil at a total cost of Ghc 175,035. The items were to be distributed to staff across the country as Christmas gifts. Since the amount was beyond his threshold, he splitted the contract into two for the same supplier (His wife friend) violating section 21(5) of the procurement Act.
RENTING OF VEHICLE FOR OFFICIAL USE WITHOUT DUE PROCESS
After the “theft” of his official vehicle, the DG rented a 4×4 Jeep, with registration number GT 7862-19 for his official use at a daily cost of Ghc800.00 to NSA, without due process. It was later uncovered that this rented 4×4 Jeep turned out to be a vehicle that belongs to a very close relation of the Director General.
What is more serious was the fact that the vehicle was rented from a fictitious and non-existing company (WANSCHIE CAR RENTAL). In other words, NSA was paying Ghc 800.00 per day for almost 3-month to a company not registered with the Registrar General Department.
This disingenuous behavior is unbecoming of a Director-General of a state institution. We request that this matter be investigated and the DG be made to refund the monies paid to this non-existing company if found culpable especially that there was a vehicle available for his official use at the time.
RUNNING OF NSA AS A SOLE PROPRIETOR
The NSA is a state institution. Like all other state institutions, it is expected to be run using the public service rules and Regulations as well as applicable schemes of service. However, our Director General is managing NSA as if it were his private business, without recourse to public service rules and scheme of service of the NSA.
In 2020 the NSA had financial clearance to recruit 250 new staff to augment its staff strength. To this end an advert was placed on the Daily Graphic in December, 2020 (copy attached) stipulating the vacancies available and the caliber of persons required to fill in those vacancies. Over 21,000 applications were received.
The Director General constituted himself, his secretary (a junior staff) and his personal assistant (who is not a staff member) into a recruitment panel, to recruit over 170 new staff members, without due process and without the knowledge of NSA management and the Public Service Commission.
What is more worrying is that, the Director General directed his secretary and a non staff member, to send text messages to all applicants they had “shortlisted” and directed them to a private laboratory, located inside the STC yard, for medical examination at the cost of Ghc 400.00. Without management approval. (Copy attached). We find it intriguing that the DG would direct applicants to go for their medical examination at a particular laboratory, which coincidentally charged almost three times the average industry rates then. These examinations could have been done at any government hospital at a cost of Ghc 100.00 or Ghc 150.00 at most.
It is the concern of many staff members and the general public that the medical charges were inappropriate and against the dictates of public service requirements and that someone benefited from that transaction at the expense of innocent Ghanaians desperately seeking employment. Those who could not afford the Ghc 400.00 are still being pursued to make the payment. We therefore ask for a thorough investigation and necessary action taken including refund where necessary.
BREACH OF NSA SCHEME OF SERVICE
There is an entry requirement for all categories of public Service workers and NSA is no exception, but the Director General flagrantly disregarded this requirement relative to NSA Scheme of Service on placement and grading structure and placed newly recruited staffs on higher ranks /grades without corresponding qualification or experience. Majority of these staff members have personal links with the DG.
For example, a person with a degree in Biochemistry, who has never worked in public service before, was placed on a grade of Deputy Director and made Deputy Head of HR and Secretary to NSA Management while still under probation. Again, the Director-General, promoted people on probation to head departments and units within the NSA and sidelined existing staff with even higher qualifications and experience. Those who complained are suspended, transferred or marginalized.
These actions of the Director-General are causing disgruntlement within the NSA and thus affecting productivity.
RENOVATION OF TEMA SPORTS STADIUM
In 2020, the NSA entered into an agreement with the Ghana Hockey Association (GHA) to allow the Association to manage the Hockey stadium at an annual fee of Ghc150, 000. The Hockey stadium at the time was housing the Greater Accra Regional Directorate of NSA. Under the agreement, the Ghana Hockey Association was to provide GHC 250,000 to enable NSA to renovate the Tema Sports Stadium to accommodate the Greater Accra Regional Directorate. At the same time the Region had given a private Company (Barbells Health and Fitness LTD) permission to renovate the Tema Sports stadium for a Gym and to pay rent to the NSA. The GHC 250,000 was provided by the Ghana Hockey Association.
Apart from the fact that the procurement process was a side step, the amount of work done at the Tema Stadium is not worth the GHc 250.000 considering the amount of work done by the private Gym operator Barbells Health and Fitness. Copy attached.
The cost of the renovation work has to be investigated.
MISUSE OF PUBLIC FUNDS
Since his appointment as the Director General of the NSA, Prof. Twumasi works for only three (3) days in a week. He still has his family based in Kumasi and as a result he is always in Kumasi every Thursday – Monday on an “official trip”. To this end, an internal MEMO for the “official trip” is always raised for fuel, accommodation, feeding and out of station allowance for four (4) people including himself, his secretary, personal assistant and his driver. His rampant and frequent “official trips to Kumasi” is a drain on the coffers of the NSA to the extent that casual workers are not been paid for three (3) months now because he prefers to have funds for his “official trips to Kumasi” than to pay casual workers and other statutory allowances. In fact since his assumption of office, Prof. Peter Twumasi has embarked on over 150 “official” trips all to Kumasi.
In October, 2021 the Liberia national team paid $15,000 to NSA for the use of the Accra Sports Stadium as venue for their World Cup qualifier game against Cape Verde. This amount was paid through GFA to NSA, up till now nobody knows the whereabouts of this money or what it has been used for.
Again, between December 2021 and March 2022 the Authority have realized more than half a million Ghana cedis (GHC 500,000.00) by way of IGF including musical concert by Shatta Walle, GT Bank etc. yet the Authority still depends on the Ministry of Youth and Sports for support to maintain the stadia anytime a National team is on duty at any of the stadia.
Thousands of Ghana cedis in fuel coupons are bought on monthly basis in the name of the Authority but used exclusively by the Director General for his “official trips’ ‘. No management member or any senior officer of the Authority gets any fuel as pertained in other sectors of the public service.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The Director General recruited and appointed his own direct cousin by name Emmanuel Ohene Twumasi as head of procurement of the NSA without any qualification and experience.
Contracts for the supply of items in the NSA are given to ghost and non-existing companies, among the non existing companies are;
- No Farmer No Fortune for the supply of Fertilizer in 2019
- Tebee Gh Ltd, for the supply of Veronica buckets and Dust Bins in 2020
- Acoma Green Consultancy, for the supply of Dust Bins and Veronica Buckets in 2020
- Wanschie Car Rentals
DECEIT OF PUBLIC OFFICER
In December 2021, the Director General wrote to the Hon. Minister of Youth and Sports and GFA informing them of his decision to close the Accra Sports Stadium to all league matches for routine maintenance (copy attached). According to him, his reasons were grounded on the technical advice he received from CEO of Green Grass Technology (GGT) who he engaged as a consultant contractor for the maintenance of the pitches.
However, evidence of activities on the pitch revealed that the DG rented the same pitch (that was close for league matches) to GT Bank and Shatta Wale to stage a musical concert on different dates. This unilateral decision by the DG caused disaffection to the corporate image of the NSA and needs to be investigated.
DIVIDE AND RULE
The Director General has adopted a policy of divide and rule to break the unity and cohesion of staff so that he could perpetuate his diabolic agenda of amassing wealth at the expense of the Authority without questions. Any officer who seeks to question the action and inaction of the Director General is made an enemy of the system and either marginalized, sidelined, transferred or in some cases suspended. (For example, some officers who seek to find out from him when their statutory allowances will be paid were queried and their job functions taken from them. Another officer was suspended for expressing his opinion on the directive of the Director General.
CONCLUSION
The principal role of a Director General is to lead in such a way as to maximize the benefits to all stakeholders’ while ensuring that the Authority complies with all applicable laws and regulations. However, in the case of the Prof. Peter Twumasi he is not only being whimsical and capricious but also leading the Authority into a total collapse if immediate action is not taken as he has problems with almost all stakeholders in the sports industry.
The DG is not in good terms with Ghana Football Association (GFA), not in good terms with Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), Not in good terms with GHALCA, LOC of Accra 2023 and some Federation Heads.
It is against the above issues that we request the immediate intervention of the Board of NSA to direct Prof. Peter Twumasi to step aside for proper investigations to be conducted on the issues raised against him. If we do not hear anything within two weeks after the receipt of this petition we will advise ourselves.
We await your immediate and positive response in this regard.
Thank you.
Prof Twumasi has dragged the petitioners to court over he described as lies and character assassination.
