The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah, has brushed aside media reports that he has forked out whopping sums of money to purchase vehicles for his use and that of his directors since assuming office a couple of months ago.
The Daily Searchlight newspaper in its last week Tuesday edition accused Mr Sylvester Mensah and the directors of the scheme for reckless management.
According to the newspaper, Mr Mensah has bought for himself a Toyota Land cruiser V8 cross-country and other eleven 4×4 vehicles to be used by the rest of the directors.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra recently, Mr Ametor Quarmye, deputy Director, Corporate Affairs and Strategic of NHIA, labeled the allegations as malicious, unwarranted and one that should be disregarded.
According to him, the NHIA as a public institution is funded by the tax payers’ money like any other government institution and it officers are aware of their duties to render account as and when it becomes necessary.
He disclosed that Mr Mensah since assuming office in the middle of June last year has supervised the purchasing of ten vehicles, including 5 Nissan hard body Pick-Ups, 3 Nissan Patrol 4×4 cross-country vehicles, which he said have been sent to the three Northern regions to facilitate the smooth running of the scheme in the region, whiles the other 5 new Nissan Navara Pick-Ups have also been sent to the distribution department.
Besides, one new Nissan Teana Saloon car was purchased for CEO. This, he explained, was as a result of government’s directive that debars heads of institutions from using four wheel drive vehicles for normal daily duties.
“Nothing could be farther from a malicious lie fabricated in a desperate attempt to tarnish the CEO’s image in the eyes of the public,” Ametor Quarmye bluntly stated.
He, however, revealed that the process of purchasing those ten vehicles was started by the previous management and that this new management came to seal the deal, stressing that an approval was seek from the ministry of health ministerial tender committee.
“How could the Daily Searchlight attribute this purchase of a 4×4 cross-country vehicle by the NHIA to Mr Sylvester Mensah who assumed office two years after the decision had been taken to purchase the vehicle and all processes completed before his assumption of office,” he added.
Touching on the trip to the United Arab Emirates by the CEO to take part in an international health conference which the Daily Searchlight described as a ‘useless venture’ Ametor Quarmye explained that the NHIA considered the benefits that the scheme and for that matter Ghana as a whole surpass any other interest thereby asking the newspaper to ‘shut up.’
Against that background, Mr Ametor Quarmye said plans are afoot to haul the editor of the paper, Mr Kenneth Agyei Kuranchie, to substantiate the allegations.
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