OBS FACTS: Lawyer Opposes SSNIT Falsehood

A Barrister-at-Law, Charles Nii Koi has taken a swipe at attempts by the Board Chairman of the SSNIT, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufour to persecute the former Director General of SSNIT, Mr Ernest Thompson in the media even though no court has pronounced him guilty regarding the implementation of SSNIT’s Operating Business Suit (OBS).

According to him, Pricewaterhouse and Coopers (PwC) did a shoddy job and pocketed a cool US$500,000 without bothering to speak to the main protagonist in the case, Mr. Ernest Thompson neither did they bother to give an opportunity to the four others for the role they played in the implementation of SSNIT’s OBS software as proper accounting practice demands.

He was surprised at the deliberate refusal of SSNIT to draw Mr. Ernest Thompson and the four others attention to the findings and recommendations made by PwC about the implementation of the SSNIT OBS also known as SSNIT software which they alleged cause a financial loss to the state.

This act, Charles Nii Koi said strengthens the position or suspicion that the whole attempt was a persecution and not an investigation.

He indicated that every Good Auditor will always draw the attention to their findings and recommendations of the ones being investigated. The question to ask is, “did this simple auditing principle apply?” strangely, PwC receiving the US$500,000 from SSNIT for the audit of the OBS rather at the end of their investigations asked SSNIT conduct an investigation over the issues being raised and seek legal advice on how to deal with the vendors- Perfect Business Systems and Silver Lake Consortium.

In another report, SSNIT, over a year ago told the public that it had appointed PwC to conduct a baseline audit (Special Purpose Audit or Agreed Upon Audit) for instance on some aspects of the OBS but information available indicated that the PwC overstepped it threshold. Usually when that happens, the key individuals involved are given the chance to speak but in this case, these key individuals including the vendors were not given a hearing by the auditors.

Granted as it may, Charles Nii Koi added that staff and former staffs of SSNIT were supposed to provide their version of the alleged financial malfeasance but information available indicated that nobody was contacted by PwC instead allowed SSNIT to sort media trial of the immediate past Director General Dr. Ernest Thompson and four other members.

In similar statement, Lawyer Amaliba, a Communication Member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the AM Show on Joy News Channel jabbed PwC for failing to contact the individuals involved. He was emphatic that even the Auditor-General allows those he audits to make their input before the final report is submitted. Lawyer Amaliba cited an infraction on the part of PwC indicating that an audit cannot be conducted without speaking to the one being audited.

Again, the allegation that the former DG inflated the price of the OBS contract to US$72million according to Charles Nii Koi cannot be entirely true. The fact of it is that the OBS software is not a single software but a suit made up of over 14 modules and the software component cost less than US$10 million for all the 14 modules. Also, it is appropriate to clarify that the US$147million mentioned in the PwC report was for all the IT projects from 2010 to 2016 and not for the OBS as was indicated.

He posited that another shifting of goal posts by the current D-G, Dr. John Kojo Ofori Tenkorang to tarnish the reputation of his predecessor is that the OBS is partially working contrary to the earlier claim that the entire software was not working. Meanwhile an investigation by Joy News’ Evans Mensah, Kwetey Nartey and host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Kojo Yankson after probing the claim made by the current SSNIT management in September 2017 revealed that key modules of the Operating Business Suite (OBS) are working to expectation (https://www.myjoyonline.com/business/2017/september-25th/controversial-72m-ssnit-software-working-despite-earlier-claim.php).

The Barrister-at-Law was also surprised why SSNIT selected few media houses to announce to them the arrest of Dr. Ernest Thompson and four others when checks revealed that nobody including Dr. Ernest Thompson have been arrested by EOCO nor charged by the Attorney General. The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Gloria Akuffo, on Accra-based Oman Fm yesterday said her office has not officially charged any of the four ex-staff of SSNIT including Dr. Ernest Thompson.