This is according to Ken Amankwah, the Chairman of the “Ghana 60 Years On” committee which was tasked with executing a series of programmes as part of Ghana’s 60th Independence Anniversary.

[contextly_sidebar id=”r6NLWFygxV03ngjnt20hM6YmWzQB3wiQ”]The committee has already revealed that it was unable to carry out all of its planned programmes due to a lack of funds.

Among these programmes was a national flag-draping campaign which would see businesses adorn major roads near their offices with flags, buntings, balloons and lights in Ghana colours.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Amankwah said these flags were originally being printed from China “but we couldn’t bring them down from there so we had to fall on local printers and they couldn’t meet the quantities they wanted.”

This initiative was “subject to us getting the flags in. We had such a short time that the flags could not be manufactured and those that came, we had to send them out to the region. Also, all the commercial painters had to be given enough time to prepare them to get these huge flags.”

Though the irony of printing flags from China for Ghana’s independence celebrations, was not lost on him, Mr. Amankwah insisted that procuring the flags from the East Asian nation were cheap and the local ones “were unbelievably high and we couldn’t afford it.”

The national flag-draping campaign was among several programmes that the committee was unable to see through, including the provision of 60 libraries in deprived areas across all 10 regions, a technology Start-up challenge and a historical documentary.

Committee raised less that GHc 10 million

Mr. Amankwah lamented that there was a perception that the committee was laden with cash because of the GHc 20 million budget annoucnced by President Nana Akufo-Addo.

This budget was however subject to the generousity of fund raisers and in the end. Mr Amankwah said the committee failed to even reach half of its target.

“All these things were predicated on the assumption that we were going to reach our target of GHc 20 million which the President set us. We didn’t even get half of that.”

As an example of some of the high budgets brought to the planning committee,  Mr. Amankwah said there was a budget of GHc 1.7 million for the planned nationwide relay of the torch lit with the perpetual flame at the 2017 Independece Day celebration at the Black Star Square.

“For the torch, they brought a budget to GHc 1.7 million to carry a torch around the country. I mean, how are we going fund that? GHc 1.7 million to carry a torch around the country!”

“We were arguing with the people. This was way out of proportion out of what we intended. So how were we going to fund that? … Our problem was that, because of the publicity, everybody felt we had so much money to spend, ” he stated.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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[contextly_sidebar id=”BCiEAKGbEOFNVDPLnhdXfH1Wr9cKXVhk”]He said the amount was among other things used to pay for rented cars and hotel accommodation for special guests who attended the anniversary celebration.

Responding to a statement by the Deputy Minister Finance, Kwaku Kwarteng in Parliament that more GH¢5.6m of government funds was used for various events as part of the year-long celebration, Ken Amankwah said the allocation was only a statutory payment to take care of the regular independence day parades.

“The budgetary allocation for the celebration actually went to the parade of the military and school children and other ancilliary which is a routine thing that happens every year. Ghana 60 years on is completely different from Independence day statutory provision which is always done. The independence parade, the flag raising and other ancillary things that occur is a statutory and mandatory money that comes from government every year. We have not touched that [GH¢5.6m] at all… Ghana 60 years on, everything that we have done is from the private sector,” he said.

Kwaku Kwarteng said in Parliament on Thursday that the government provided GH¢5.26 million for the year-long celebration.

According to him, GH¢3.1m of the amount was sourced from Government’s coffers while GH¢2.16m was sourced from the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).

The statement appeared to contradict President Akufo-Addo’s assurance that the government will source the GH¢20m budget cup for the celebration from the private sector.

But the Chairman of the committee which was constituted to plan and execute all events and projects associated with the anniversary said it did not benefit from the state money.

He said the committee relies solely on donations from the private sector for all of its activities.

He further described as untrue claims that some of the money was give to the Chief of Staff at the Ghana 60 years on secretariat.

“It is not true. It went to the Chief of Staff so that they can pay for the hotel bills of those who were invited by government to come to the celebration. The car rental charges and all that… that is what the Chief of Staff pays for… It has got nothing at all to do with Ghana 60 years on.”

Meanwhile, Ken Amankwah has said that the Committee is rigorously implementing various planned and unplanned projects as part of its mandate.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Chief Moomen had complained that he has only been paid GHc100, 000 out of the GHc200, 000 he charged the committee.

But the Chairman of the Committee, Ken Amankwah said he had no formal agreement with the playwright.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Kv1UR48UfF4IJ2YbhHOVdS8c0FWiuXnP”]“For me the most curious thing was his claim that we don’t have a contract. On what basis was Wogbejeke advertised? It was in the newspapers, radio, over 500 invited guests came to the conference centre to watch the performance and we were given half of our money before the programme. So on what basis were we engaged if there was absolutely no contract,” Chief Moomen stated.

“So far as I am concerned, we had a verbal agreement, we presented them with an invoice, and we even presented them with a receipt for our first tranche of payment. It was their responsibility to give us as well as other performers or any other service providers a contract. So far as it wasn’t forth coming, we didn’t pursue it further because our concentration was on the activity,” he added.

There’s been a sour relationship between the playwright and the Chairman of the Committee with Chief Moomen lamenting that several efforts to retrieve the rest of his money had proved futile.

But Mr. Amankwah in a statement described the amount charged by the Wogbejeke crew as ‘whooping’ and added that Chief Moomen was even “lucky” to have received half payment.

Speaking to Citi News, Chief Moomen insisted that he provided receipts and invoices covering their cost and expenses to the committee and thus will use every legitimate means to retrieve the remaining GHc100, 000.

“He [Chairman of Ghana@60 committee] sounded as if they were chasing us to come and sign a contract and we were being elusive and that is absolutely not true. We engaged with the committee several times, there was so much happening at that time, I don’t know whether because of the numerous activities and the short period they had to organize it, I’m don’t think anybody who did anything for the committee around that independence period was given a formal written contract to which they signed, I stand to be corrected.”

“I was even sympathetic for them and I said maybe it was because of the overwhelming activities that they had to engage in that is why they couldn’t do things as correctly as they were supposed to do but that shouldn’t be our question to answer, so the burden shouldn’t be on us to provide the contract, it should actually should be on them. We were being treated like they were doing us a favour and for me that’s the most frustrating things. Remember it’s been four months. When I went to see the chairman he was a bit condescending and patronizing. So far as we are concerned we did the project, our bill is 200,000 and we are still left with 100,000 and we would explore whatever legitimate ways to get the rest of our money,” Chief Moomen added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post I had verbal agreement with Ghana@60 c’ttee – Chief Moomen appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In a statement signed by the chairman of the committee, Ken Amankwah, he said the committee went into an agreement with Chief that the fee he charged for their performance was not a fait accompli.

“I reminded him of our earlier discussions when he delivered his budget. There was the understanding that his budget was not a fait accompli. The Committee was entitled to sanitise and prune it down to reasonable amounts. He never came back for the budget hearing,” he said.

He also stated that Chief Moomen was in a hurry to stage his play and did not make time to sign a contract.

“Chief Moomen was a young man in a hurry. Before we could examine the details in his budget, he had mounted the stage and the musical was performed without an agreed contract,” he wrote.

In two separate Facebook posts last week, Chief Moomen had demonstrated his displeasure with the situation and had said all attempts to get the remainder of his money had proven abortive.

According to the poet and playwright, the committee’s indebtedness to him had put him into financial constraint, a reason his April show was called off.

Following the statement by the Chairman of the Ghana@60 Anniversary Planning Committee, Ken Amankwah, the producer and writer of the play Chief Moomen has issued a statement, disagreeing with some claims made by the chairman.

Read his statement below:

“Now that the Chairman of the committee has issued a response to my entreaties, I am now at liberty to put out the facts of the case. And I shall respond to his claims in greater detail.

1. He Claims our 213,000ghc budget to stage a WogbeJeke is whopping and excessive (The agreed amount was actually 200,000ghc) . By whose standards? We produced a 2hr 30mins production with a cast and crew of 170 people. This was inclusive of all related production and technical costs- remunerations, rehearsals, sound, lights, set, props etc. The only thing we were given is the venue (which is actually the Conference Center and not the Banquet Hall as he claims). Our remunerations budget alone was over 100,00ghc ( eg. @ an average of 500ghc*150 people= 75,000. @ 2000ghc to 5000ghc to directors of various units of the production= 35,000. Our technical costs averaging 20,000ghc and other costs like rehearsals, refreshment, transportation, props, costumes, etc averaging 20,000ghc. I will usually have to spend about 150 to 160,000ghc on every production period. So 200,00ghc charge for WogbeJeke is in no way excessive. Sir did you know Umoja charges 50,000 dollars for a performance of about 30 people and you still have to pay for all their technical costs. If I’m even to pay my cast and crew what they reasonably deserve for all the work they put into this, 300,000ghc will be my rate.
2. He claims, “Chief Moomen is a young man in a hurry. Before we could examine the details of his budget, he had mounted the stage and the musical was performed without an agreed contract.” That is quite a curious claim. So on what basis was WogbeJeke advertised on radio, television, newspapers and social media as part of the official programme for the anniversary? On what basis were invitations sent out to people, including the Vice-President and Council of State, to come to the Conference Center on Friday 3rd March, 2017 at 6pm to watch the production? On what basis was the first 100,000ghc given to me for the programme.? Yes I was not given a written contract, and I believe that no service provider for the anniversary celebrations was given one either. I , however, presented an invoice of 200,000ghc and a receipt covering the receipt of the first 100,000ghc.
3. He again claims, “But the moonshine of his presentation was the ruse that he had never been paid.” Now that is plainly not true. In my facebook post and in all my interviews I have always indicated that I was given half of the payment.
4. According to the Chairman, our budget is excessive because ten years ago, my own beloved lecturer Prof Martin Owusu put up plays for the 50th anniversary celebrations and didn’t charge that much. I won’t even bother to respond. It’s like walking into a boutique to buy a shirt and being told that it costs 200ghc only for you to claim that amount is excessive because you came to the shop ten years ago to buy a shirt that costs 20ghc.
5. He claims I was supposed to come for a budget hearing and I never turned up. That is also not true. I have availed myself to every single meeting that was required of me. Even after the performance, I have made several attempts to secure meetings. In fact, I have been to the seat of government these past months more than I have done in my entire life.
6. For the past four months I’ve been following up on this issue in what has been a really frustrating process. I have reached out to many people to intervene on our behalf with no results. My business indeed has been gravely affected. I finished my march shows with an amount of 56,000 to pay out which I have been trying to do. This debt has made it difficult for me to invest in my operations. I canceled my show in April because of the debts and was at the verge of cancelling my July show too. My angst and frustrations are very real sir. I’m in no way out of the woods. You may not care, but please don’t describe my sentiments as “ a contrived tearjerker”.”

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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