DCE Swindles Orphans
Inmates of a well-known orphanage home in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region are on the tail of the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Builsa South, Daniel Gariba for allegedly duping them of their money, this portal can report.
Mr Gariba who owns a microfinance finance company, Com Aid, in 2015 was able to convince the management of the Home with mouth-watering interest rate promise to deposit their monies with his micro finance company.
According to our source at the Home, Mr Gariba promised to pay 30 percent interest on every Ghc10, 000.00 deposit.
That, the source said, was the reason the management of the orphanage home deposited Ghc30, 000.00 with his (Mr Gariba’) company “ so that we’ll have Ghc9,000.00 interest on our money . ”
But little did the management of the orphanage home, Today gathered know that it was a scam as after the first payment (interest), the management of Com Aid microfinance headed by Mr Gariba failed to pay the remaining interests as well as the principal money.
“All attempts to get Com Aid micro finance to pay our money to us failed so when he was appointed the DCE we decided to petition the appointing authority to impress upon him (Mr Gariba) to pay us our money”, the source told Today in an interview.
Today further checks at the orphanage home showed that, a petition was sent to the Upper East Regional Minister, Paulina Abayage accompanied with all documental evidence to seek for the regional minister’s intervention..
Our further checks also at the office of the regional minister confirmed that, the minister received the said petition from the Home, accusing the Builsa South DCE of defrauding them.
A certain man who gave his name as Andrews, and claimed to be an aide to the regional minister in an interview with Today via telephone said, “my boss (Paulina Abayage) has received a petition from an orphanage home, and if the accusation against Mr Gariba is true after our investigations, we’ll ensure that Mr. Gariba does the needful so as to avoid public ridicule”.
Today later learnt that following the intervention of the regional minister, the DCE, January this year made payment of Ghc15, 000.00 out of the Ghc30, 000.00 of the principal money to the management of the Home, and promised to pay the remaining balance with its accrued interests in a month’s (February) later.
“ So in all he has paid Ghc18,000.00 including the first payment he made as part of the interest on the money which was Ghc3,000.00.” the source said.
But sources at the orphanage home told Today in an interview that, when the time for the payment of the remaining money which is Ghc 21, 000.00 was due. the DCE refused to pay.
“ Mr Gariba has since refused to pay the remaining money, and it has been one story and other any time we call him to remind him of the money. He even sometimes gets angry on the phone,”, one of the inmates who spoke on a condition of anonymity told Today.
“In fact , from the look of things, the DCE is not ready to give us our money”, the source added.
When Today contacted the DCE last week through telephone to confirm or otherwise deny the allegations, fuming with anger, he asked, “what is your (referring to this reporter) interest in this matter”,?
When our reporter made him aware that he is in a position of trust as a DCE, although he finally confirmed having paid part of the money, he still did not understand why his debt issue should be of public interest as he kept on asking this reporter during the interview his interest in the case.
“What is your concern about this matter? My company is facing some financial challenges, and we’re trying to pay everybody that my outfit owes, so I don’t see why you should be interested in this matter”, he said.
He boasted that nothing could be done to him, “because I have not done anything criminal that should warrant my dismissal”.
Story: Atta Kwaku Boadi
