The Chief of Staff And The NPA's $63,000 Rent Scandal

A Hopelessly Incompetent Chief Of Staff And The NPA’s $63,000 Rent Scandal

This morning – June 29, 2014 – a hopelessly incompetent Chief of Staff in yet another knee-jerk reaction to the outrageous National Petroleum Authority’s 63,000 dollars rent scandal, issued a statement ordering the dissolution of a committee set up by the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Armah Buah to look into the circumstances leading to the signing of the lease agreement.

The following undisputed facts would go a long way to define the incompetence of the Chief of Staff:

1. It was the NPP minority in parliament led by Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei that revealed that the National Petroleum Authority under the leadership of Mr. Moses Asaga had signed an outrageous 63,000 dollar-a-month lease agreement with a yet to be known land owner.

2. The following day, the Spokesperson for the NPA, Mr. Yaro Kasambata, arrogantly admitted that indeed his outfit had rented the office space for that unthinkable figure – 63,000 dollars – and shamelessly defended the NPA’s reprehensible act.

3. The public outrage that greeted the scandal, compelled an otherwise weak Parliament through Dr. Kwabena Donkor, the Chairman of its Mines and Energy Committee, to summon the NPA to appear before it to justify that outrageous and potential criminal use of public funds.

4. In a panic move, the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Armah Buah set up a bogus 5-member Committee to look into the scandal. The membership of the committee tells it all.

AND

5. So many days after the fact, a hopelessly incompetent and clueless Chief of Staff ordered the dissolution of the committee set up by the sector minister.

With this sequence of events, one is prompted to ask:

A. Where was the Chief of Staff when all these events were unraveling?

B. Is the Chief of Staff telling the nation that he was not aware when Mr. Buah set up that bogus committee with the sole intention to whitewash the scandal?

C. In the midst of the sordidness of this scandal with potential criminal implications, wasn’t the Chief of Staff expected to efficiently coordinate activities with the sector Minister and the Attorney General to achieve the best result for the country as part of his job description?

AND

D. Does the Chief of Staff even know his job description?

Once again, the Chief of Staff has exposed himself as a hopelessly incompetent and clueless public official who is not cut for that high office. He has been sleeping at the wheels since his shocking appointment by the President. He is a square peg in a round hole and an embarrassment to the NDC tradition and the nation as a whole. What is puzzling is that the President does not seem to care about the harm Mr. Prosper Bani is doing to his presidency, his party and the nation. As I have maintained all along, Mr. Prosper Bani’s incompetence is legendary and he is going to go down as the worst Chief of Staff the nation has ever had. Please see my article entitled "

Why The President Must Fire The Chief Of Staff!

The troubling issue is: When is the President going to save the NDC and the nation from this nightmare of a public officer?

Meanwhile, let me ask: Why are the leaders of the NDC so deafeningly quiet in the face of this embarrassment? Do they care about the integrity of the NDC and the deleterious harm the Chief of Staff is doing to the political fortunes of the party?

Puzzling!

KWADWO CRISTO

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