Throw Auditor General’s ‘NSS Farm’ Report Into Dustbin – Kuagbenu

Vincent Kuagbenu

The immediate past National Director of the National Service Scheme, Vincent Senam Kuagbenu, has rubbished a 2012 Auditor General report which stated that the Youth in Agriculture project instituted by his administration in 2010, ended in failure.

In his audit of the agricultural project, the Auditor General, Richard Quartey, accused the Kuagbenu-led NSS of embarking on a wasteful expedition, noting that whereas Ghc 600,000 was pumped into the project, only Ghȼ80,000 was earned in profits.

'Out of a total amount of Ghc 593,744.23 invested in the farms, management produced records to account for an amount of Ghc 82,741.86 leaving a balance of Ghȼ511,002.37 unaccounted for. We also noted that management failed to carry out feasibility studies to inform the investments in the farms, ' the report stated.

But reacting to the report Tuesday, Mr Kuagbenu, who headed the Secretariat from July 2009 to March 2013, strenuously denied that the project had been a failure.

According to him, although the objective of the project was to encourage national service personnel to develop interest in agriculture, the NSS ended up making in excess of Ghȼ1.3 million from the sale of  harvested maize.

Kuagbenu told Accra-based Joy FM that thousands of maize bags had been sold to the Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) between 2010 and 2012 to feed students at the country's senior high schools.

'As I speak to you now, the scheme is still receiving payments for maize sold to schools between 2011 and 2012', he said.

Criticising the Auditor-General for what he described as a bad work done, Kuagbenu said the farming project was so successful that it attracted a Ghc 3 million sponsorship from the Export Development Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF) for it to be expanded.

'Even President John Mahama availed his own tractors to work on the farms at Dawhenya [near Accra] for two months free of charge,' he added.

Kuagbenu reiterated his condemnation of the the Auditor General's work, stressing that it could have done a better job if it had visited the farms and engaged with farm managers before releasing its report.

'I will tell you to throw that audit report into the dustbin,' he emphasised.

The farms, piloted in the Ashanti region, had been replicated in the Eastern, Central, Brong Ahafo and Volta regions, focusing largely on maize cultivation with additional animal husbandry in Accra and fish farming in the East Region and had attracted national attention as a practical engagement in training and attracting the youth streaming out of  tertiary institutions into mechanised farming.

Kuagbenu recalled comments by President Mahama, while on a visit to the Komenda NSS farms, that it would take agriculture, not gold or oil, to develop the country and highly commended the National Service Scheme for taking to the agric venture.

The NSS, after harvesting the maize, sold it at reduced prices to the schools for feeding students. There were plans to develop NSS farms in every district in the country where service personnel would be engaged and enticed to take up agriculture as a viable, life-long profitable ventures before Kuagbenu was replaced as the Executive Director.

He also denied any involvement in the discovery of ghost names on the NSS payroll for June this year that is reported to have cost the nation almost GHS8 million in allowances. He said he hoped the BNI, which was investigating the fraud, would net everyone involved ad bring them to book, citing instances during his tenure where he had to refer acts of fraud to the BNI.