He said Paul Adom-Otchere was wrong in purchasing Christmas trees for the company.
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GH¢34,000 KIA Christmas trees: Adom-Otchere acted irresponsibly – Vitus Azeem
Vitus Azeem, an anti-corruption campaigner has expressed disappointment in Paul Adom-Otchere, the Board Chairman of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) following the inflation of the cost of Christmas trees and decoration around terminal 3 of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
Paul Adom-Otchere
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According to him, the involvement of Adom-Otchere in procuring the Christmas trees for the GACL raises an eyebrow.
He said it is worrying for a Board Chair to have an office in public institutions.
"Why should the board chair involve and defend it, that is wrong. We need to know the actual amount involved or whatever. Whether it’s from sponsorship or not. It’s the cost reasonable, is that the market price for it and did it go through the normal procurement procedure," Azeem asked.
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In an interview on Accra-based Starr FM, he said "From my experience, the Board has nothing to do with the day to day running of an institution. The board chair has nothing to do with procurement. Once the board chair approves that there is the need to buy something that is where his role ends. It is left with the institution and its tendering committee to look at the procurement side."
"If you are a board chair and your staff is spending Christmas without salary not to talk of their bonus but just their salary and you can go out and buy Christmas trees.
"That is a bit worrying. Definitely, somebody probably stood benefit in purchasing this for Christmas and needed the money upfront. That interest was put above the staff and that is the worrying issue," he added.
He, therefore, called on the Office of the Special Prosecutor or the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the matter.
He said "The amount involve I am thinking if it’s worth the time for the Office of the Special Prosecutor or CHRAJ to go into it considering serious matters in terms of cost. There are other serious matters that are before these two institutions and they have not been able to investigative as fast, to the satisfaction of Ghanaians."
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Christmas trees
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Earlier, Adom-Otchere took time to explain the actual cost involved in mounting the Christmas trees at the Kotoka International Airport.
He stated that the GACL has for many years mounted Christmas inspirations around the terminal area to create a festive atmosphere for passengers and their families coming into the country and this is not the first time.
There had been claimed on social media that the GACL spent GH¢84, 000 mounting the trees last year.
However, Adom Otchere mentioned in a statement on Friday, January 7, 2022, that the total expenditure of 2021 was the lowest since 2016.
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He mentioned part of the cost was obtained via sponsorship.
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