Whistle blower’ KATH staff to sue for wrongful dismissal

Embattled former accountant for the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Awuni Akyereba has describes the decision by the hospital to dismiss him as unfounded adding that he will soon file a suit against the hospital for unlawfully sacking him.

According to him the  recent hue and cry over his petition to the commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice CHRAG on some alleged corrupt practices at the facility shows clearly that management of the facility is witch-hunting him for saying the truth.

“I can now confirm that there is some sort of witch-hunting from the management and board of the hospital because they see me as a threat to the corrupt activities in the facility “.He told OTEC News reporter Kwame Agyenim Boateng in an exclusive interview.

Dismissal

The management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) sacked the accountant who complained about how COVID funds were being used by the hospital.

The management of the facility, according to sources, believe their former staff was just on a destructive mission with no evidence to back his claim.

In the dismissal letter sighted by Starr News and signed by the board chairman, Nana Effah Ampenteng, the Omanhene of Bompata Traditional area, directed the hospital’s director of finance to pay him all his entitlements.

The dismissal letter again directed the director of finance to delete his name from the hospital’s staff payroll effective 20th December 2021.

Vociferous Social Commentator defiant

The vociferous Social Commentator Mr Akyereba has, therefore, expressed disappointment in the Board Chairman of the hospital Nana Effah Apenteng  for signing his dismissal without given him an opportunity to substantiate his claims.

“What baffled me is that  the hospital’s  internal disciplinary committee failed to  give me  a fair hearing over the case”. he noted.

He disclosed that he will soon file a suit against the hospital for unlawfully sacking him.

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer for the  facility Mr Kwame Frimpong said  their former staff was just on a destructive mission with no evidence to back his claim leading to his sack.

Background

A staff of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Awuni Akyireba, on November 2021, petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administration Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the CEO of KATH.

The staff, who is a certified Chartered Forensic Accountant and a member of staff of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) is asking CHRAJ to prove a misappropriation of covid-19 funds by the CEO of the hospital.

According to the petitioner, KATH faces a lot of challenges such as inadequate beds that have resulted in deaths of patients, lack of laboratory reagents to run basic Labs tests like HBA1C, LFT, Beta-HCG, PSA, hepatitis C RNA, spoilt elevators at D-block and C-block, leaking roofs when it rains, clumsy and unkempt floor of the wards, broken windows that allow mosquitoes to infest patients with additional sickness on the ward among a slew of others.

He added that although the CEO of KATH, at a performance review meeting and business meeting of the hospital stated that all the directorates of the hospital incurred losses in the year under review which cumulative loss was about Ghc 6.2million, management managed to buy two additional luxurious Toyota Camrys of 2020 model for the pleasure and comfort of the CEO, Dr Oheneba Owusu Danso, and the Medical Director, Prof. Baafuor Kofi Opoku.

“That if the hospital, KATH, made loss in the year 2020 but management could raise money to buy the two luxurious Toyota Camry cars at a cost of $58,000 each, the two of which cost $116,000, then it stands to reason that they used the covid19 funds to buy the two cars the purchase of which is far removed from the intended purpose of the donated monies. It also has apocalyptic repercussions in the future on the hospital because benefactors will not have the urge to give donations to the hospital if their donations will be splurged on luxurious cars for the comfort of Directors and not the maintenance and the well-being of patients,” a portion of the petition read.