Muntaka Probe Letter- The Facts

By Halifax Ansah-Addo
Daily Guide of Friday Nov. 26, 2010

Spokespersons of the Mills Government yesterday hopped from one radio station to other denying a DAILY GUIDE report that President John Evans Atta Mills has ordered fresh investigation into the controversial $20,000 Alhaji Muhammed Muntaka Mubarak is alleged to have pocketed when he was Minister for Youth and Sports.

Alhaji Muntaka himself also told the media that the DAILY GUIDE report was an old investigation and not a fresh one.

However, DAILY GUIDE's checks revealed that indeed, the Civil Service Council, acting on the directive of President Mills, has opened fresh investigations into the matter and what the spokespersons of government and Alhaji Muntaka told the media yesterday was not the truth.

While Alhaji Muntaka claimed the DAILY GUIDE story was a rehash of an old investigations, the paper can confirm that he was not speaking the truth because barely a week ago, precisely on Wednesday October 17, 2010, the Civil Service Council sent out official information that they had been directed to constitute a fact-finding committee for the purpose of uncovering the mystery surrounding the 'missing' $20,000.

Indeed, the very first person the committee would meet with over the matter was Alhaji Abdulai Yakubu and that meeting was scheduled for Tuesday November 23, 2010. Alhaji Muntaka himself has been ordered to appear before the committee on Wednesday December 8, 2010 at exactly 11:30 am.

The Civil Service Council has also ordered all officers who worked at the Sports Ministry and had any dealings with finances during the period Alhaji Muntaka was there to appear before the newly-constituted fact-finding committee.

The invited officers include Alhaji Muntaka himself, Rashid Pelpuo; Deputy Majority Leader of Parliament and a former Minister of Sports, Prosper Apasu; the Chief Accountant, Shelter James Ocloo; Internal Auditor, Albert Ampong, Adim Odoom, Ebenezer Lomotey, Charles Aryeh, and Clement Aku.

The letter inviting the above persons was signed by the Secretary of the Civil Service Council, Noah Tumfo, on behalf on the Chairman of the Civil Service Council, Dr Robert Dodoo.

DAILY GUIDE has also gathered that the committee is chaired by Dr. Robert Dodoo; Milly Quansah, Justice E.D.K. Adjabeng ; all members of the Council and W.K Kemevor; the Acting Head of Civil Service.

Messrs Albert Ampong and Adim Odoom, who were then respectively Chief Director and Principal Accountant at the Sports Ministry, have already explained and insisted that the $20,000 was given to Alhaji Muntaka, aside other huge amounts of money that unlawfully went to him.

This new order for an investigation comes as a surprise because the missing money had already been investigated by National Security on the orders of the Presidency and detailed reports submitted to President Mills who asked Muntaka to resign. President Mills also asked for the interdiction of the two officers, Albert Ampong and Adim Odoom.

Whether by coincidence or by someone's machinations, this latest order for another investigations into the matter comes just after government was ordered by the courts to re-instate Messrs Albert Ampong and Adim Odoom to their original positions, after they were wrongly interdicted and given half of their salary for months.