Three more heads to roll over $72 million SSNIT software scandal

Three more officials of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) have been interdicted for their roles leading to the $72-million software scandal.

They are the Manager of its data management unit, Mr Joseph Appiah-Mensah; the Head of Networks, Mr Erasmus Acheampong Mensah and Harold Brookman-Amissah, who was in charge of the team that migrated data from the legacy system into Operational Business Suite (OBS).

Mr Appiah-Mensah’s interdiction letter which was contained in a memorandum dated September 15, 2017 and signed by the Deputy Director General in charge of Finance and Administration, Mrs Joyce Wereko-Ampim, a copy of which is available to the Daily Graphic, said: “Management has decided to interdict you pending the final conclusion of the investigations into the allegations of impropriety levelled against you in the implementation of the OBS Project which you were the Project Manager.

“You will be put on half basic salary without any allowances during the period of the interdiction.

“You are directed to make yourself available to EOCO officials and cooperate fully with them during the investigations,” the internal memo noted.

The two other interdicted officials are also being investigated by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in connection with the same issue.

Academic credentials

The academic certificates of 2,465 workers of the SSNIT are being verified by the trust as part of moves to cleanse the system of possible fake certificate holders.

The exercise comes against the backdrop of the revelation that the dismissed Head of the Management Information Systems (MIS) of the trust, ‘Dr’ Caleb Afaglo, used fake certificates to gain employment with SSNIT in 2015.

The Director-General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, recently told the Daily Graphic that management gave the directive to the Human Resource Department two weeks ago as part of moves to cleanse the system of possible culprits.

“It is a policy of SSNIT for all certificates to be verified, but, somehow, Afaglo’s slipped through. We, therefore, need to make sure similar incidents do not occur in the future,” he said in an interview in Accra last Thursday.

Software scandal

The SSNIT has been hit by a $72 million software scandal, leading to ‘Dr’ Afaglo’s dismissal after the Trust and the EOCO realised that he had used fake degrees to gain employment.

‘Dr’ Afaglo was dismissed on August 30, 2017 after a committee set up to investigate his conduct in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Trust recommended his dismissal.

A statement issued by the acting Corporate Affairs Manager of SSNIT, Ms Victoria Abaidoo, said: “The evidence made available to the trust indicates that the university degrees presented by ‘Dr’ Afaglo to secure his employment with the trust are fake”.

It indicated that ‘Dr’ Afaglo, who was then on interdiction, “has been relieved of his post with immediate effect”.

According to EOCO, its investigations revealed that ‘Dr’ Afaglo did not have a doctorate degree as he had claimed; neither did he have a master’s degree nor a first degree.

‘Dr’ Afaglo was employed by SSNIT in 2015 after the trust had completed phases one and two of its OBS.