Director Reports To Work Heavily Drunk

…Videos Emerge As Supervision At Non-Formal Education Division Breaks Down

Drama ensued at the Ashanti Regional office of the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED), currently called Complementary Education Agency (CEA),when its regional director showed up at work heavily soaked with alcohol.

Mr. Stephen Gyamfi, whose confirmation as a substantive regional director is yet to be approved, surprised his staff and onlookers when he arrived at the workplace at Bompata, a suburb of Kumasi, highly intoxicated and looking weak.

The embarrassing incident, occurred on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 and it drew the attention of some workers of the Ashanti Regional Rent Control Office and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), who share the same office building and premises with the Complementary Education Agency, to come out to catch a glimpse of Mr. Gyamfi’s drama.

Videos of the incident, available to The Anchor, showed Mr. Gyamfi balancing his body, as he struggles to find his feet to walk away from the cameras to where his vehicle was parked.

He could not safely remove the car from the parking lot, and therefore had to be assisted by someone in order not to cause damage to other vehicles parked near his own.

Sources told The Anchor, Mr. Gyamfi initially reported to the office around 9:12am, reeking of alcohol, but after a few minutes, he stepped out again ostensibly to go and top up with the drink and only came back heavily soaked.

According to eyewitnesses, because of his mood that fateful day, he could not stay long at the office and, therefore, spent barely 20 minutes before going home.

Mr. Stephen Gyamfi at the car park, covering his face away from being filmed or photographed

At the time of leaving, Mr. Gyamfi, who was soaked in the spirit, allegedly forgot to lock his office, and it took the intervention of the receptionist to lock the door and handed over the keys to him.

It is unclear, what might have been wronged with the embattled CEA regional director. Some have suggested, he may be going through some sort of depression.

Mr. Gyamfi is said to be one of the “darling boys’’ of the executive director, Mr. Francis Asumadu, who is also facing serious issues over his continuous stay in office. This paper is informed, Mr. Gyamfi has been a caretaker regional director since 2017, when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) came to office.

This is coming on the heels of a litany of issues, such as indiscipline and malfeasance, ongoing at the institution, under the Ministry of Education, which the sector minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has woefully failed to address and sanitize the system.

Tension At Head Office

The Anchor, not long ago, reported that a simmering tension was brewing among the workers against the executive director, Francis Asumadu, over the whereabouts of some GH₵10,000 welfare cash he took in 2020, to allegedly grease the palms of some officers at the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).

The angry workers, through the leadership of their welfare association, in a letter, dated, July 19, 2022, said that the money, as well as some other GH₵ 15,000, was handed to Mr. Asumadu, to facilitate the migration of staff onto a new salary structure.

According to them, Mr. Asumadu impressed upon the Welfare Association to use the money “to motivate some officials of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission in order to facilitate the migration onto the Civil Service Structure.”

But the embattled CEA boss, who has allegations of sexual harassment, victimization and extortion against him, in a petition currently lying on the desk of the Education Minister, Dr. Osei Adutwum, after receiving the money, did not present it to the Salaries Commission staff.

The peeved workers, who are at their wits’ end, said Mr. Asumadu seemingly did not refund the money to the welfare association.

They said that, various attempts to get him to refund the money have also yielded no result three years on.

This, coupled with other matters, is forcing the angry staff of the Complementary Education Agency, to organize a press conference on Monday May 22, ostensibly to protest against the continued stay in office by Mr. Asumadu.

A caution letter intercepted by The Anchor, issued in July 2022, titled “Request For Refund Of Welfare Fund,” said, even though the chairman called Mr. Asumadu to express his disappointment about the non-payment of the money, his promise to do the needful the following day did not materialize.

A two-week ultimatum contained in the letter was also blatantly ignored by the embattled CEA director.

It said, “By a copy of this letter, you are to refund the said money which is Ten Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵10, 000, 00) to the Association within two weeks of receipt of this letter. We are putting the account of the Association together and we need to account for that money.”

The workers recalled that before releasing the second tranche, the national chairman of the association, Edward Ocloo, stressed to Mr. Asumadu their inability to release the money, using the lack of value for money argument.

The request for the money, per this paper’s understanding, coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, and so Mr. Ocloo drew the attention of the executive director to the inconveniences as a result of the disease and his inability to travel with him.

It noted, “On the 13th of November, 2019, you had meeting with the National Executives demanding the second installment. But the chairman told you the executives are unable to release the second installment because we were not having value for money and you took offence.

The workers further said, “Again, on the 11th of May, 2020 when COVID-19 was on ascendency, you invited the chairman and demanded the remaining GH₵10, 000.00.”

They pointed out that, “Knowing what he was planning to do with the money he suggested that the secretary goes with him in place of him, the chairman, to do the presentation at the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission since he resides in Accra.

“Interestingly, after handing the money to the secretary and subsequently presenting it to Mr. Asumadu, he failed to fulfill his part of the bargain. The executives obliged and gave the money to the secretary as you suggested, they stated, adding “Instead of going with the secretary, you took the money from the secretary with the excuse of being busy with office work and postponed the presentation of the money to the following day.”

According to the workers, “His promise to pay the money even without the secretary was never fulfilled, neither was the money refunded back to the Association. All efforts to get the CEA boss to refund the money have fallen on deaf ears.”

They told their director, “The chairman called you and registered his displeasure but you promised him that it was going to be done the following day.

“That following day never came. Since then, the chairman has been requesting for the refund of the money but you paid deaf ears to the appeal,” the workers stated.

More Anon…

Source: Anchorghana.com