THE Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, has set up a three-member committee, headed by the Deputy Western Regional Minister, Alfred Ekow Gyan, to investigate the Sekondi-Takoradi Metro Chief Executive, Capt. Anthony Cudjoe (rtd), who has been accused of pocketing per diem without any justifiable cause.
The decision follows a series of publications by The Chronicle that the MCE collected per diem from the assembly to travel to Columbia in South America, but did not return the money, when he failed to make the trip.
Addressing a news conference in Sekondi yesterday to announce the probe, the Western Regional Minister, Paul Evans Aidoo, said until The Chronicle exposure, the Metro Finance Officer (MFO), Mr. Kurt Kwofie, and other officials of the Assembly thought the embattled Mayor had successfully been to Columbia.
Regrettably, The Chronicle, which broke the story, was not invited to the press conference by the Regional Minister. Paul Evans Aidoo, nevertheless, told the journalists that at the time The Chronicle story came out, the Sekondi Mayor had not returned the per diem to the Assembly coffers, even though he failed to make the trip to Columbia, the basis the per diem was given to him.
According to Minister Aidoo, the three-member committee, which has up to Monday, May 26 to submit its report will investigate and make recommendations as to whether the Sekondi Mayor breached the Financial Administration regulations.
Other members of the committee are Mr. Samuel Larbie, Regional Budget Officer, and Mr. Alex Zormelo, Regional Audit Officer.
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