Re: Drama at PAC: GHS in the eye of the storm
My attention has been drawn to the above publication which appeared in the Daily Graphic and its online version on January 21, 2016.
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After reading it, I found a number of assertions and issues raised at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting of January 20, 2016 as not the real issues or truth behind the story.
I, therefore, write this rejoinder to help clarify some misconceptions created by the publication and which, if not corrected, can have the potential of tarnishing my hard-won reputation and integrity.
The following are the issues raised by your paper for which I wish to provide the truthful facts aimed at clarifying the unfortunate misconceptions the publication might have caused, whether purported or inadvertently:
Proper designation
Your reporter submits that I am the "Transport Manager of the Ghana Health Service". I refer to this assertion and correct it that I am the Deputy Director for Transport in the service and have several transport managers and officers in the same service. This is to help prevent any mistaken identity from this error.
Health challeng
Your reporter further states that "Mr Ebo Hammond, who was supposed to answer a question regarding a contract, disappeared from the sitting because of what was said to be a “stomach upset”. I will like to emphatically indicate that my presence at the PAC was to assist the head of the organisation to explain why an auctioneer who had received approval to auction unserviceable vehicles had failed to account for all the money, but not to answer any question on procurement irregularities.
Responsiblities
As a Deputy Director for Transport, procurement of vehicles is not part of my direct or primary responsibilities. The Transport Management Department's responsibility as enshrined in the GHS Transport Policy and my appointment letter is to ensure the efficient management of transport resources for service delivery.
Nowhere in my functions am I empowered (whether expressed or implied) to procure vehicles, let alone the sole-source for vehicles. The calling of my name to answer to such purported irregularities was, therefore, anomalous. This anomaly was clearly stated by the Minister of Health, Mr Alex Segbefia, when I returned to the hall after my health challenge which had no connection with the PAC meeting and for which my superior was well aware of far before the PAC proceedings.
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The minister stated clearly that I had come back after my health challenge, but I was not the person to speak to the irregularities raised. These statements were made live on TV on the floor of the PAC and you may verify from the recordings yourself . True to the statement of the minister who had learned that I was not the person to speak to the issue upon my return, when the substantive matter of the irregularities in the procurement of the vehicles was called by the committee on Monday, January 25, 2016, I was not the person called to provide answers to such irregularities even though I was in the hall throughout the proceedings.
Illogical conclusions/disappearance
A key rhetorical question may be asked that: if I was "to answer a question" to the PAC and thereby "disappeared" as reported by your reporter, why would the same person be sitting down comfortably when the PAC called for explanations on the issue on the said date? This definitely renders the essence of your reporter's story quite illogical.
On all the issues raised concerning my purported disappearance at the PAC, one would not fault the PAC, as they were made to have the impression that I was the one to answer questions on the procurement queries. However, when the truth was put out there by the minister on the fact that I was not the person to answer questions on the issue, the same august body took a swipe at the media for misreporting and misrepresenting facts which warranted a special meeting with the media on accurate reporting from the PAC.
One would not be mistaken to question the professional ethos of your reporter for the indecent haste with which he published the issue without seeking my side of the story when I returned to the hall after my health challenge and stayed till close of the day's proceedings.
I wish to reiterate that the reason for my presence at the PAC (which was to assist my superior to update the august committee on steps taken so far to retrieve money an auctioneer failed to account for after selling government unserviceable vehicles) was not even discussed on the day in question. It is also worthy of note that I was not in the hall when the issue (which I was not the one to answer) was raised.
Knowing the Daily Graphic as a respected national daily, I will not doubt your professionalism in correcting any misinformation that your report may have inadvertently put out in the public domain.
I count on your cooperation to show the highest sense of professionalism you are known for by publishing this rejoinder for your numerous discerning readers to appreciate the true facts as adduced in the foregoing.
Ebo Hammond ,
The Deputy Director, Transport,
Ghana Health Service.