The government is being advised against the candidature of one Patrick Ayaaba, former Assembly Member of Teshei, for the appointment of Bawku East Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) in the Upper East Region.
Mr Ayaaba’s candidature is being challenged by his former employer, Abdulai Sirtu, who somewhere in 2015 reported the former to the police for allegedly stealing a truck load of gold bearing sand, popularly known as ‘Over’, at the cost of GHC400, 000.00 whilst the latter had travelled.
According to Mr Sirtu, Mr Ayaaba was prosecuted by the Tamale Circuit Court and was sentenced to pay 300 penalty units as fine or in default serve two years imprisonment, as well as being ordered to refund an amount of GHC400, 000.00 to the complainant.
The aspiring MCE’s alleged stealing and conviction happened two years after his employment with Mr Sirtu in 2014, as operator of quartz rock milling machine that was set up at Wasepe, near Bole.
He said Patrick Ayaaba was assigned the duty to grind quartz rocks containing gold brought to him by miners at the site for a fee.
Mr Sirtu explained that after the miners had sieved the gold from the grinded rocks, the residue (over), which also contain some amount of gold, is allowed to accumulate over a period of time and later sold at the machine owner’s convenience.
Thus, after the quartz rock is grinded and the miners successfully extract the gold from the dust, the residue or ‘over’ will now belong to the machine owner.
According to him, the aspiring MCE took advantage of his absence and sold the sand at an undisclosed amount.
Mr Sirtu, in an interview with The Chronicle, in Accra on Friday, said although convict Patrick admitted to the crime when he was confronted at the initial stages, he failed to handover the proceeds to him (employer).
In a petition addressed to the former Chief Justice, which copy was shown to The Chronicle, as proof to buttress Mr Sirtu’s claim, the convict was said to have stated at a fora, claiming ownership of the ‘over’, as well as using body builders (machomen) to threaten the employer.
Meanwhile, the employer, in the petition said: “Owing to the fact that I abhor violence as a law abiding citizen, I lodged a complaint of stealing at Bole Police Station against Patrick Ayaaba in December 2015, which culminated in his arrest, investigation and subsequent prosecution at the Circuit Court, Tamale, presided over by His Honour Mr William Twumasi Appiah.”
Mr Sirtu also added that he took a civil action against Patrick Ayaaba at the Tamale High Court after the lower court had sentenced the employee.
Interestingly, while the civil suit was pending before the High Court, presided by Justice Osei Kwame Gyamfi, the convict and his lawyer had also on January 14, 2017 filed an appeal at another High Court presided over by Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng.
According to Mr Sirtu, as soon as Justice Osei Kwame Gyamfi was about to pronounce his decision on the civil matter, a lawyer for the convict informed the court that the sentence is being challenged at another court, which the parties – appellant and prosecution – had been urged to file their written submissions, hence the case was adjourned.
Unfortunately for the convict, the appeal was also ruled against him and his sentence was even enhanced by Justice Daniel Kwame Obeng.
On this basis, Mr Sirtu is advising the government and the people of Bawku to vehemently reject the candidature of Patrick Ayaaba, since he has a criminal record and it will be unpardonable to put such a dishonest character in a sensitive position as MCE.
He said the MCE is the political head of the assembly, supervising over the finances, security, health, education and everything that borders on the socio-political and economic development of the people, therefore, the likes of Patrick Ayaaba cannot be trusted with that responsibility.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS