A-G wants Ras Mubarak punished …over misapplication of GH¢215k

The Former Executive Director of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Ras Mubarak, should be held responsible for the misapplication of funds at authority, which was uncovered by the Auditor-General.

The 2015 Auditor General's Report indicted the NYA over the misapplication of the sum of GH¢215,100. Mr Mubarak, who was the then Executive Director and now the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu in the Northern Region and a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), contravened Regulations 179(1&2) of FAR, 2004 (LI 1802), which state, among others, that “a head of department may not authorise payment to be made out of funds earmarked for specific activities for purposes other than those activities,” said the report.

According to the report, after the 2014 World Cup, an amount of GH¢450,000 was released to the NYA Secretariat as feeding grant for the Authority's 11 Youth Leadership Skills Training Institutes across the country for the 1st term of the 2014 academic year.

However, an amount of GH¢234, 900 was transferred to nine institutions, and part of the balance of GH¢215,100 disbursed as administrative cost to the Youth Leadership Institutions and regional secretariats, and remaining GH¢56,400 “kept and used by the Authority without accounting for it.”

The A-G has, therefore, urged the Ministry of Youth and Sports to ensure that Mr Mubarak, who was heading the NYA at that period, “accounts for the GH¢56,400.”

The revelation comes in the wake of several financial malfeasances in public institutions uncovered by the Public Accounts Committee since it began sittings this month.

You will recall that sometime in the same period in 2014, Mr Mubarak and one of his Deputies, Mr Mohammed Nabila, were embroiled in running battles with his Director of Finance who advised him against the misapplication of the said amount “GH¢215,100.”

Mr Mubarak did not only fail to listen to the advice of his then Financial Director who is a professional (Chartered Accountant), but went further to break into the office of the Financial Director and retrieved financial documents in order to get access to the funds.

He also barricaded the Director's office and asked for his replacement from the Controller and Accountant General's Department. It is not clear whether Mr Jones Avedzie Klutse, Chairman of the PAC, will do justice to Mr Mubarak, who is also a member of the PAC, as was done to other members summoned before the committee, especially, when staff of the NYA are eager to know the outcome of the issue, which they seem to be happy about.