Juju Attack At Bureau Of Ghana Languages

An attempt by the leadership of the Bureau of Ghana Languages (BGL) to get a gang of corrupt staff there investigated over the diversion of contracts, has attracted resistance in otherworldly form.

Mr. William Boateng, Director of the agency with custodianship over local Ghanaian languages, became the subject of incantations one late afternoon when Fredrick Frimpong Baafi, Assistant head of the Twi Section of the BGL, sought to invoke demons against him.

Sources report that on the fateful day in question, Baafi stormed the entrance way to the office of the Director naked and chanted some eerie gibberish while motioning like a witch doctor in a trance.

The primitive act was however short lived because the security man at the Kawokudi head office of the agency chanced upon Baafi and he had to show a clean pair of heels.

A second show of juju power is said to have been demonstrated by Moses Aplerh, alias Nii, Head of the Ga Section off the BGL. Allegedly, he deliberately invited a throng of family members led by a voodoo priest to the head office for a silent perambulation as warning to the Director.

Superstitious sources have sworn that the evil enchantments have since been slowing down a process to get the Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO) to investigate massive corruption that has been ongoing at the BGL for decades.

A recent investigation into the activities of the gang by a group of undercover journalists produced a smoking gun – members of the gang, including Adwoa Apraku, head of the Asante Twi section, and Moses Aplerh, were caught on tape in the act of diverting a contract from the BGL.

Copies of the tape have since been requested by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and the Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO). Copies have also been served to the Head of Civil Service and the Ministry of Tourism, under which the BGL functions.

In that tape, Adwoa Apraku, head of the Asante Twi section, is caught convincing a potential client of the agency to give her a contract that was originally meant for the BGL, at half the standard charges by the BGL. Moses Aplerh, alias Nii, the Head of the Ga Section, is also caught diverting another contract and receiving payment through mobile money transfer

For some reason, in over three months that all the appropriate state institutions have been served with copies of the tape which presents smoking gun evidence against the gang, nothing appears to have been done.

With the consensus of the BGL’s Board, the agency’s Director, William Boateng, has petitioned EOCO to probe the matter. However, for some inexplicable reason, EOCO is not launching investigations.

While this is going on, the group of corrupt staff, made up of F.F. Baafi, the voodoo invoking Assistant Head of the BGL’s Twi section, Moses Aplerh, Head of the Ga Section, Joseph Avunyah, Head of the Ewe section, and Charles Awuku Akuffo, the BGL’s Graphics designer, have ganged up against the Acting Director.

They have asked that the Director resign, so that his predecessor, Peter Essien who was removed from the post because of his alleged complicity in the corrupt diversion of contracts, would be brought back to the BGL.

A couple of weeks ago, the gang actually accosted the Director in his office and shoved a resignation letter under his nose, but Mr. William Boateng refused.

The gang is said to have also secured support from some unknown Labor union high-ups, in the agenda to remove William Boateng and the Board before EOCO’s investigation would start.

It was in furtherance of the agenda that Fredrick Frimpong Baafi and Moses Aplerh, took to juju extremes.

But Mr. William Boateng has so far withstood all the machinations and is said to be patiently waiting for EOCO, to start the probe. It is not clear what is preventing EOCO from starting the probe.

Strangely, CHRAJ, and BNI, which are said to have also shown interest in the case after stories of the tape evidence against the gang hit the airwaves, have not initiated investigations either.

The gang, apparently knowing that it is between a rock and a hard place, has been kicking back hard. On Monday, they had had plans of staging a demonstration in hopes that somehow, the Director and the Board of the Bureau would be removed so that their criminal deeds captured on tape will be swept under the carpet.

The Bureau of Ghana Languages is an agency in charge of local Ghanaian languages, eleven (11) of which are currently under its focus. It also functions uniquely as a government publishing house.

It is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture and has been involved in the educational and cultural efforts of the state.

Government has not particularly given attention to the agency over the years leading to the development of an atmosphere of corruption and impunity. For 12 years, the Bureau had no Board until President Akufo-Addo recently appointed a Board for it.