Mr Kwame Owusu’s “impressive” track record at the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) makes him deserving of his recent appointment by President Nana Akufo-Addo as the Chair of the Governing Board of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), a Deputy Minister of Information, Pious Enam Hadzide, has said.
As Director-General of GMA, Mr Owusu, among others, was alleged to have used – per a memo of the Authority signed by Rhoda Atiah – GHS66,835.00 to construct a high-quality hardwood standard kitchen cabinet complete with drawers, a Corian worktop and wall hanging unit and all the necessary accessories.
Mr Owusu was also investigated by the Ministry of Transport for spending GHS135,000 on an end-of-year dinner party in 2017, and also GHS10,000 on lunch for eight people at a meeting – services provided by his own Luxe Suites Hotel.
He also spent the company’s GHS1 million to transform his two-bedroom colonial-style bungalow into a sprawling five-bedroom property with eleven air conditioners. Justifying the expenditure, he later told journalists that the eleven ACs were not even enough and that they should have been 13.
Mr Hadzide, however, said on Tuesday, 16 July 2019 that Mr Owusu is a results-oriented man who gets the job done.
“If you go and check the track record of the gentleman in question, during his time at the Ghana Maritime Authority, his track record was quite impressive”, Mr Hadzide told Umaru Amadu Sanda on Accra-based Citi FM’s Eyewitness News.
“The facts speak for themselves”, he noted, explaining: “In 2016 that organisation [GMA] was making loses; revenue was about some GHS64 million and their expenditure was about GHS72 million. That is a company that was making losses. Now when Mr Owusu assumed office in 2017, they made a revenue of GHS99 million and expended GHS66 million thereabout. And, so, the organisation has been turned around into a profit-making organisation,” Mr Hadzide insisted.
Mr Hadzide further said: “In 2018 that organisation (GMA) made a revenue of GHS141 million and expended GHS73 million, a profit in excess of over GHS40 million. This was an organisation that was making losses.
“Again, if you checked the mandate of that organisation, the Ghana Maritime Authority, to be able to perform their mandate, they needed vessels to patrol the maritime boundaries of this country, they did not even have one vessel, but within two years of the time of the gentleman under consideration, the Ghana Maritime Authority had procured seven.
“You recall the tree stumps in the Volta Lake and the number of accidents that were happening in the Volta Lake because of the tree stumps, in the time of the gentleman under consideration … those tree stumps have been removed”.
Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3FM
As Director-General of GMA, Mr Owusu, among others, was alleged to have used – per a memo of the Authority signed by Rhoda Atiah – GHS66,835.00 to construct a high-quality hardwood standard kitchen cabinet complete with drawers, a Corian worktop and wall hanging unit and all the necessary accessories.
Mr Owusu was also investigated by the Ministry of Transport for spending GHS135,000 on an end-of-year dinner party in 2017, and also GHS10,000 on lunch for eight people at a meeting – services provided by his own Luxe Suites Hotel.
He also spent the company’s GHS1 million to transform his two-bedroom colonial-style bungalow into a sprawling five-bedroom property with eleven air conditioners. Justifying the expenditure, he later told journalists that the eleven ACs were not even enough and that they should have been 13.
Mr Hadzide, however, said on Tuesday, 16 July 2019 that Mr Owusu is a results-oriented man who gets the job done.
“If you go and check the track record of the gentleman in question, during his time at the Ghana Maritime Authority, his track record was quite impressive”, Mr Hadzide told Umaru Amadu Sanda on Accra-based Citi FM’s Eyewitness News.
“The facts speak for themselves”, he noted, explaining: “In 2016 that organisation [GMA] was making loses; revenue was about some GHS64 million and their expenditure was about GHS72 million. That is a company that was making losses. Now when Mr Owusu assumed office in 2017, they made a revenue of GHS99 million and expended GHS66 million thereabout. And, so, the organisation has been turned around into a profit-making organisation,” Mr Hadzide insisted.
Mr Hadzide further said: “In 2018 that organisation (GMA) made a revenue of GHS141 million and expended GHS73 million, a profit in excess of over GHS40 million. This was an organisation that was making losses.
“Again, if you checked the mandate of that organisation, the Ghana Maritime Authority, to be able to perform their mandate, they needed vessels to patrol the maritime boundaries of this country, they did not even have one vessel, but within two years of the time of the gentleman under consideration, the Ghana Maritime Authority had procured seven.
“You recall the tree stumps in the Volta Lake and the number of accidents that were happening in the Volta Lake because of the tree stumps, in the time of the gentleman under consideration … those tree stumps have been removed”.
Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3FM
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