The attention of the management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has been drawn to a petition issued by one Kwame Adofo of the Holy Trinity Chambers in Kumasi, addressed to His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, copied to the Chief of Staff, Jubilee House, and the Hon. Minister of Health and published in a section of the media.

In the petition under reference, the said Adofo, who until 31st December 2023, was the hospital’s lawyer, claimed that his request was based on the fact that Prof. Addai-Mensah has since his assumption of office in December, 2022, misappropriated funds and flouted the country’s procurement law on several occasions.

Prof.Addae Mensah

The management of the hospital wishes to state unequivocally that Mr Adofo’s petition is without merit and should, consequently, be dismissed outright as it is rigged with inaccuracies, misinterpretations and conjectures.

Management wants to place on record that Prof. Addai-Mensah has since his appointment performed with distinction and operated within his mandate and administrative powers to the admiration of the various stakeholders of the hospital.

His transformative drive within the short time that he has been at post has not only helped to improve the operations of the hospital but also elevated its image through the enhancement of quality clinical care delivery, infrastructure upgrading and improved staff welfare among others, on a scale unmatched in the recent history of the hospital.

What is quite perplexing is that Mr. Adofo started making some of the unfounded allegations against the new CEO on social media, his privileged access to hospital management notwithstanding, whiles still under contract with the hospital in his capacity as the hospital’s lawyer.

It is on account of this that the hospital was compelled to report his conduct to the General Legal Council and also caused its new lawyers to institute a separate action against him at the High Court in Kumasi. Both cases are still pending but in direct response to the allegations raised in his petition, management will like to state as follows;

1. The Chief Executive has not withdrawn any Ghc 300,000.00 which he has not been able to account to the Board of the hospital. Cogent submissions had been made by him to the Board on how the money was used in furtherance of the operations of the hospital at a meeting held on 26th October, 2023.

It is instructive to note that similar executive engagements in furtherance of the hospital operations had been undertaken by previous CEOs without any issues being raised.

1. Mr. Adofo’s claim that the CEO was involved in procurement breaches could not have been farthest from the truth. Yes, one Prince Ankomah Kissi, the accountant of one of the 15 departments at the hospital, was detected to have registered a company, Prinky Star Enterprise, that was supplying maintenance materials to the hospital. The detection was made by hospital management itself and not any other person.

Given that he was not in any way involved in the procurement processes of the hospital, be it directly or indirectly, he was given a formal warning to desist from such acts in the future and his company was blacklisted and delisted from the hospital’s list of suppliers as part of the sanctions against him. Payments made to the company was only in respect of items already supplied and used for various maintenance works at the hospital. All the records show that the company fairly and competitively got the orders it won and there was nothing whatsoever untoward in the processes leading to the award of the contracts before it was blacklisted.

1. It must also be placed on record that bids are submitted by, and orders for the supply ofgoods and services are awarded to companies and not their owners and so it is not possible for the CEO to know the persons behind the hundreds of awards he signs on regular basis. With a procurement budget of around Gh₵ 100m per annum, the contract awarded to Prinky Stars was quite insignificant and any allegation to the effect that the CEO was conniving with him to fleece the hospital could best be described as a conjecture.

It must also be stressed that similar incidents that happened before his assumption of office was handled in virtually the same manner and one wonders why meanings are being read into the Prinky Star case. There has not been any violation of the country’s Procurement Act as far as the case under reference is concerned and any claim to the contrary is only a misinterpretation of the law.

1. The fact that during the tenure of the current CEO, the hospital had maintained it maturitystatus by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and won a number of national and international awards in procurement best practices are a testament of his management’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of the hospital’s procurement credentials.

It is not for nothing that for instance the hospital won the Gold Award in Excellence in Procurement and Supply Chain (Healthcare category) at the 2023 Africa Procurement and Supply Chain Awards.

1. Mr. Adofo’s claim that the CEO is using the name of the Asantehene to raise funds under the Heal Komfo Anokye Project and has failed to render accounts to the KATH Board is one of the most confounding false claims in his petition. The KATH Board had at all material times been briefed about the project right from the conceptualization stage to the commencement of execution at its monthly meetings.

The Asantehene himself launched the fundraising campaign at the hospital on 10th November, 2023, and has since led the drive to mobilise funds for the project. The Otumfuo’s Hiahene is the representative of the Asantehene on the Heal Komfo Anokye Project (HeKAP) team mandated by the Manhyia Palace oversee the project.

The membership of the team also include one member of the KATH Board. Neither the KATH Board nor Manhyia Palace has so far raised any issue about the accountability of the project funds and it is, therefore, incredulous that Mr Adofo is making such a claim.

What he has refused or failed to acknowledge is that the project is an intervention by the Asantehene, not the hospital, to comprehensively restore the 70-year “Gee” blocks for the very first time in the history of the hospital. It is being implemented by an entity separate from the hospital.

Just like a number of projects at the hospital being funded or executed by external entities, the accounts of such projects are separate from that of the hospital and their signatories are not restricted to officials of the hospital. The donations being made by philanthropists towards the Heal Komfo Anokye Project do not constitute a traditional source of revenue arising out of the tariffs set by the state or Parliament.

Even the hospital’s own Endowment Fund launched in December, 2018, had one of its signatories being its chairman who was a private businessman. It is, therefore, surprising that as the person who was the hospital’s lawyer from 2018 to 2023, he would claim that the same arrangement for the Heal Komfo Anokye Project constitute a violation of the country’s Public Financial Management Act.

1. Another falsehood perpetuated by Mr Adofo is the claim that the CEO made a private trip to Dubai but turned around to claim per diem from the hospital.

It is instructive to note that the said trip was an international medical equipment fair attended by other officials from the country’s health sector including those from the office of the Presidential Adviser on Health and the University of Ghana Medical Centre.

How could a participation in such an international event attended by other health officials in the country be deemed to be private?

The CEO duly informed the KATH Board at its meeting held on 25th January, 2024, before his trip and also gave a report on the outcome of his participation in the event when he returned.

The only “sin” of Prof. Addai-Mensah was that as humble and cost-conscious as he is, he had a sponsorship for an economy air ticket and, therefore, did not ask for one from the hospital hence the false assumption that he had embarked on a private trip.

1. The issue about the alleged attempt by the CEO to cause the withdrawal of the moneymeant for the P for R Network of Practice project is a clear case of lack of knowledge about the management of such projects at the hospital.

Historically, Project Coordinators are allowed to write for the release of funds meant for the execution of their projects after which they are enjoined to submit reports with all the necessary attachments indicating their activities and how the funds released to them were used.

Coordinators for previous and current projects have always used this process and there is nothing strange about the hospital’s lead for the P for R Network of Practice project using same.In concluding, the management of the hospital wishes to reiterate that Prof. Addai-Mensah has more than delivered to expectation.

His conduct has been exemplary, bold, visionary and above board. He is, therefore, more than ready and prepared for any probe into his stewardship of the hospital which, without any shred of doubt, can be said to have been sterling so far signed on behalf of management board.