Over a fictitious payment for car maintenance, the Drobo education director is in hot water

John Kwame Gasu, the Drobo Municipality’s director of education, has been ordered to repay GH12,608 by the Public Accountants Committee (PAC) of Parliament.

The expense of the alleged overhauling, which was meant to have been performed on one of the cars at the municipality but was later shown to be false and nonexistent, was represented by the aforementioned sum.

The director and his municipal accountant, John Koku Brenya, were given the sum that had to be repaid.

The director, John Gasu, and his accountant were questioned about why they failed to provide the required paperwork to the auditors when they arrived to conduct their job in their municipality during their appearance before the Public Accounts Committee Sitting on Wednesday, July 12, 2023.

The municipal director clarified that there was no false activity involved in the situation in response to the queries raised.

He explained to the PAC meeting what had actually occurred, namely that the accountant working for the town at the time had provided the auditors with inaccurate information.

The activity wasn’t made up. According to what the accountant had stated, the car had repairs done to it. The erroneous attachment was shown to the auditors while the paper was being processed.

“Later, we recognised that it was the incorrect attachment, and they requested that we go and get the necessary paperwork for attachment. We sent it to them, and they even said that they sent it to their auditors in Accra.

“Thus, the incident wasn’t made up; instead, our old truck was present and had just undergone maintenance, and all associated costs were real,” he informed the audience. “But the accountant did a wrong attachment.”

The Drobo Municipal Director of Education, John Kwame Gasu, and his current accountant, Francis Brenya, who had accompanied him, presented different accounts of who the mechanic who worked on the paper was when asked.

The director stated the name of one Samson as the particular mechanic, however the accountant indicated Powerful Mechanic as the name of the concerned technician.

Johnson Kwaku Adu, a member of parliament representing Ahafo Ano South West, was surprised by the contradictory responses and he asked them for clarification.

As an answer, the director said:

According to what we are saying, Samson is the correct mechanic that worked on the car, but at the time of the activity, he went to get a receipt from (sic), therefore the proper paperwork has been produced.

The MP, however, brought up the issue and asked the in-person auditors to explain what actually occurred.

During the audit, Unique Sam Enterprise was informed that he completed the task, honourable chair. We followed up with Unique Sam Enterprise in order to find out what had happened, and when we discovered that they had not repaired the aforementioned car, we informed them of it.

The auditor stated, “Later on, they brought a receipt from Christ The King Enterprise and Powerful Machine Enterprise, i.e. the Christ The King from Drobo amounting to six thousand, eight hundred and one point five zero, then the Powerful Mechanic Workshop, Sunyani amounting to five thousand, one hundred and sixty-eighty point one zero.”

After being questioned by PAC Chairman James Klutse Avedzi about the whereabouts of the alleged former municipal accountant, the director, John Gasu, nevertheless returned fighting.

In response, John Gasu informed the meeting that the accountant had been moved to the Kintampo North Municipal Education Directorate. He also presented the Committee with further justifications, but they were not successful in persuading them.

Unsatisfied with how things were going up to this time, PAC Chairman James Avedzi mandated that the director and accountant split a payment of GH12,608.