The former leadership of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme has rejected claims of wrongdoing in its human resource decisions.
Kofi Ofosu Nkansah who previously served as Chief Executive Officer explained in a statement that all staffing actions were taken to address existing gaps and support the implementation of World Bank programmes. He emphasized that these decisions were necessary to ensure smooth operations.
He stated that when he assumed office the organization faced staffing shortages that needed to be resolved to meet the requirements for certain projects. He cited the absence of a procurement unit as an example of the gaps that needed to be filled.
Nkansah also defended the hiring of temporary staff pointing out that the programme had only five permanent employees who were seconded by the Presidency. He argued that it would have been impractical to run multiple projects with such a limited number of staff especially since their tenure was linked to that of the President.
According to the statement the temporary employees were placed on allowances under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project from 2022 to 2023 before being moved to government funds while awaiting legislation to formalize their employment. The statement further noted that previous administrations had undertaken similar regularization processes.
Regarding the payment of allowances the former leadership maintained that all transactions were conducted through bank accounts with the appropriate tax deductions applied. The statement argued that allowances were a standard practice and not illegal.
The former management also questioned the credibility of the allegations highlighting that the current leadership had authorized similar payments for January. They suggested that if these actions were considered improper the same allowances would not have been approved under the new administration.
