EXPOSED ‘Eye Of The Lord Orphanage’ Is A CONDUIT OF CON!

…Activities Stage- Managed To Fleece Philanthropists
…Angry Queen Mother Petitions Gender Ministry, IGP To Intervene

The next time you think of making a donation to the 'Eye Of The Lord Orhanage', at Otoase, an Eastern Regional suburb, think again as, what has been hyped and presented to appeal to the conscience of philanthropists and sympathizers as an orphanage has been unmasked as a conduit of con, the New Crusading Guide has gathered.

Currently, managers of the facility, who have been fingered by the queen mother of the town, Nana Aboamah II, as the perpetuators of the fraudulent act are running a documentary on UTV, a local Television Station (TV) based in Accra, where they appeal to people to help with donations to the Day Care Centre, which has been guised as an orphanage.

Incensed by the alleged fraudulent activities at the facility, Nana Aboamah II has fired a strongly-worded petition to the Gender and Social Protection Ministry, as well as the Inspector General of Police (IGP), to intervene to halt the activities she described as shameful and barbaric.

Nana Aboamah II, who this paper gathered was the brain behind the establishment of a Day Care Centre now turned orphanage said she established a Day Care Centre to help the needy children in her community few years ago, and that it was one of the projects she planned to undertake as her personal contribution toward the welfare of the people in her jurisdiction, of which one Mr. Samuel Kwarpong Darko, a visually impaired man, was put in charge.

According to the queen mother, Mr. Darko, not too long ago, advertised in the media without her knowledge and consent that the Day Care Centre was an orphanage and “…solicited for funds in kind and cash to run the orphanage”.

“Mr. Darko goes from house to house pick up the children from ignorant parents, strip them naked, and pile them up in a very small room he is occupying. These are the children he presents to the media as orphans. The four-month- old child whom he portrayed to the worlds as having been abandoned on the street is not true. That child is a daughter of Mr. Darko's sister who lives in the same house with him. The media captured all these presentations and put them on the internet. This incident has attracted the attention of the indigenes of Otoase, both home and abroad, creating panic and tension among the people. We regard this issue as a disgrace and an affront to the dignity of the people of Otoase,” the distraught queen mother underscored.

Nana Aboamah bemoaned scenes in the said documentary where about 30 children were bathed with one sponge, and cleaned with only one towel- a situation many health experts say could spread communicable disease among the innocent children.

She also registered her displeasure in other scenes where the children were reported to have travelled about half a mile to fetch water for drinking and other purposes.

The queen mother said contrary to what has been told the world, her community is blessed with a natural source of drinking water, and bore-holes, and that the said runny water in the documentary was the least regarded.

Meanwhile, independent investigations conducted by this reporter at the Social Welfare Department has revealed that 'the Eye of the lord orphanage'was certified on 17th April 2014, to be run as a Day Care Centre , and is due for renewal on 16thApril 2015.

The 'Category C' certificate also had its registration no. as DSW/ER/54/13, and was signed by the Director of the Social Welfare.

Speaking to some parents who claimed they had their children in the orphanage, they said “We didn't know the meaning of an orphanage; until recently”.

One of the aggrieved parents who wanted to be anonymous told this paper that, “When I saw my children on TV in that condition, I was very worried and felt ashamed. I didn't actually know what was going on until I went to confront Kofi's (the visually impaired man) wife.”

A former teacher of the orphanage also had this to say “I was a teacher at the orphanage for just a month, and when I realized the deceitful manner in which things were being done, I resigned. All the children in that video are not orphans, If the video was here, I could point out and name each child and show you where he or she stays with the parents”.

She continued: “when donations in the form of toffees, biscuits and bread, come in, they are normally shared among the kids available as soon as possible, but the rest, like rice and others; I can't really tell where they send them to”.

Although we could not get the response of the visually impaired man for his reaction, his wife (co-proprietor), said the kids were tasked to pay GH¢50 Pesewas daily, as feeding fee and GH¢2.00 for registration.

She said the kids were 60 in number and that 30 of them hailed from the Otoase Community, whilst the rest came from other surrounding villages.

However, as at the time of filing this report, the Chief and Elders of the Otoase Township had gathered in the palace of the Queen-Mother, to discuss appropriate measures to tackling the issue.