The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), has said it has paid back the GH¢240,000 it took from the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) coffers to pay the ex-gratia of its subcommittee and assembly members in 2018.
The Metropolitan Finance Officer, David Abbam Adjei, explained that the assembly settled on a payment plan with BRT’s management which was completed in March 2021.
He said the KMA needed to rely on the BRT in 2018, because, “based on the operations of the assembly, there is no way you will have bulk money in any particular account that will enable the assembly to pay ex-gratia.”
“The management of the assembly met the management of the BRT, and it was agreed that an amount should be advanced from the BRT account to the KMA operational account for the purposes of payment of the ex-gratia.”
The repayment plan was to be paid in installments “by way of paying the fuel costs of the BRT. So we started paying that in 2020,” Mr. Adjei explained to Citi News.
“As of the end of March, the main operational account had paid all the money that was taken from the BRT,” he added.
Mr. Adjei also said the Public Accounts Committee had been made aware of these developments.
Settlement of GH¢70 million
Mr. Adjei also disclosed that the assembly has forwarded all documents to the presidency, in order for the government to clear a GH¢70 million debt the assembly owes.
“As we speak, copies of all these details have been sent to the appropriate authorities, and we are waiting for their response.”
He noted further that “95% of that indebtedness was as a result of waste management issues, particularly collection of waste and managing waste at our landfill site.”
The debt started from 2010 to date.
“Those debts were so huge that there was the difficulty for KMA raising money to pay it. Our total revenue will be around GH¢25 million,” Mr. Adjei said.
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