The Editor in Chief of the Crusading Guide newspaper has described as a “storm in a tea cup” allegations of corruption against two Chiefs of Staff by a member of the New Patriotic Party and musician Kwame Obeng Asare, popularly called A Plus.
Kweku Baako Jnr said but for the controversial leaked tape recording, the allegations made by A Plus, against Abu Jinapor and Boakye Asenso, were distortions exaggerations.
In a revealing comment on Joy FM’s Newsfile programme, Saturday, Kweku Baako Jnr said A Plus appears to have been appointed officially or unofficially as the Special Aide to the acting CEO of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital but stopped short of suggesting he was protecting his own selfish interest as far this whole scandal is concerned.
Malik Baako Jnr broke down to every detail the source of the scandal between A Plus and the two Chiefs of Staff- the Korle Bu scandal-which has since seen a new twist in a leaked tape controversy.
The beginning
According to Kweku Baako Jnr the scandal began after the management of Korle Bu Teaching decided to abrogate a revenue collection contract it had with Unibank.
The contract had to be abrogated because Stanbic Bank was also doing the same job for the Hospital and Korle Bu was uncomfortable having two banks performing the same job.
However the decision to abrogate the contract with the Unibank did not go down well with the Ghanaian owned bank whose officials decided to petition the Vice President and the Chief of Staff on July 12, 2017.
The bank believed due process was not followed in the award of contract to their competitors Stanbic and demanded the presidency to intervene.
Reaction by Chief of Staff Office
Abu Jinapor (R) Boakye Asenso (L)
Kweku Baako Jnr said when the matter was brought to the attention of the Chief of Staff, the two Deputies in the office, particularly Boakye Asenso was convinced the decision to select Stanbic ahead of Unibank was not transparent.
The Chiefs of Staff believed Stanbic had been favoured at the expense of a local bank without any due process.
The two, concluded that the decision taken by the Korle Bu management was irregular and unsustainable, particularly in the absence of the Board.
The position taken by the two persons did not go down well with A Plus who then began waging a crusade and an allegation of corruption against the two.
A Plus CID report
Kweku Baako Jnr brought a copy of a report A Plus submitted to the Police CID in which he stated that he did not at any point accuse the two Chiefs of Staff of collecting bribes.
However he accused the two of using their positions to favour Unibank at the expense and interest of the public.
Baako quoted A Plus’ report as saying Jinapor and Asenso Boakye are favouring Unibank because, the local bank contributed to the NPP campaign ahead of the 2016 elections.
That for him [A Plus] smacks of corruption by the two Chiefs of Staff.
He did not however give any evidence of corruption or wrongdoing by the two gentlemen.
On that aspect, the ace journalist said the allegations by A Plus was nothing but “hot air” except that the new twist which is leaked tape controversy has to be investigated more.