Agric Director Arrested Over 14,444 Bags Of Missing Fertilizers

The Goaso Municipal Director of Agriculture, Eric Osei Aduamah, has been picked up by the police in connection with the alleged disappearance of 14,444 bags of fertilizers meant for the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative.

According to the police, the fertilizers Mr. Aduamah allegedly failed to account for has a coupon value of GH¢946,000.

This came to light during a special audit ordered by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in the Ashanti, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions. The audit started recently.

Mr. Aduamah is currently in police custody helping the special team and the police in their investigations.

Head of special audit team from MoFA, Nana Baffour Amo Kofi, on Tuesday reported the missing fertilizers to the Goaso Police.

According to the investigators, the audit revealed that 7,400 bags of NPK fertilizer at the cost of GH¢68 per bag and 7,097 bags of urea fertilizer at the cost of GH¢63 per bag the ministry supplied to the municipality in the 2017/2018 crop season could not be accounted for by the municipal director.

The investigators said particularly that the suspect could neither account for records of distribution of the fertilizers nor provide names of beneficiary farmers even though the chemicals are not in the warehouse.

Goaso Divisional Crime Officer Florence Sackey Clark confirmed the incident to journalists during an encounter at Goaso.

—Daily Guide