CHRAJ Boss has done a great injustice to the administration of justice - Sammy Awuku

National Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Sammy Awuku says recent allegations of profligate expenditure against the Commissioner of Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Lauretta Lamptey, if true, amounts to “a great injustice to the administration of justice in the country”.

He said the Commissioner is a great disappointment to the feminine crusade because, her appointment was endorsed by many women advocacy groups who expressed confidence in her abilities.

Speaking Wednesday, on Adom FMs 'Dwaso Nsem', Mr. Awuku said her actions have disappointed the many women who looked up to her as a role model.

According to Sammy Awuku the CHRAJ Boss has not championed any matter in relation to administrative justice since she was appointed to that office.

He said workers in “some regional offices of CHRAJ don't even have seats to sit on but the Commissioner has been able to spend $148,500 on hotel bills for [almost] three years”.

This he says, is unacceptable because at a time when hospitals across the country are grappling for resources to even provide enough beds for patients, pregnant women have to lie on benches and roads are plagued with deep potholes, the country is able to afford a $148,500 dollars for one person.

Government he says, is wasting taxes paid by people who are struggling to make a living on things that will not profit those who are suffering.

“The people of Ghana are subsidizing for the vulgar display of opulence of the elite,” he remarked.

Mr Awuku said “the attitude of this government mocks our piety as a country and puts doubt in our commitment to help the poor and President Mahama is missing the opportunity to prove Ghanaians wrong day in [and] day out. This is not what we bargained for”.

The Commissioner of CHRAJ is said to have moved into a hotel since August after the US$5,500 monthly rent for her apartment at the African Union (AU) Village expired. The daily rate for the hotel is $456.25 which is being paid in cedis.

Renovation works at her official apartment have taken three years to be complete. 

The official residence, which was occupied by the former commissioner, Dr Francis Emile Short, is currently being redesigned with several variations at her instance, all at a cost of GhC182,000.

That means from July 2011 when she was appointed to July 2014 when her rent at the AU Village expired, a period of 33 months, $148,500 was spent on her rent accommodation, including utilities.