DCE, 2 NPP executives in GH¢59,750 cable theft scandal

Razak Tahidu has been fingured in a cable theft scandal

The name of District Chief Executive (DCE) for Chereponi in the Northern Region, Razak Tahidu has popped up in the theft of electrical materials worth GH¢59,750 from the Assembly’s stores.

According to a security man at stores, he allowed two New Patriotic Party (NPP) executives to cart away the electrical cables because they indicated to him that it was Mr Razak Tahiru who sent them

Electrical Materials worth GH¢59,750 for Self Help Electrification Project(SHEP) it is gathered, were kept in the stores of the Chereponi District Assembly has gone missing with no trace who took them.

The materials were supplied under the Self Help Electrification Project(SHEP) somewhere mid last year(2016) for purpose of getting some villages within the Chereponi district connected to the national grid of which works were started but were subsequently halted after last December elections.

Unfortunately, when the contractor came to the site earlier this week and wanted to recheck the inventory of what he hitherto knew he had in stock in the district Assembly’s stores but to his could not find a greater proportion of his materials in the store.

The contractor claimed he questioned the security man at the premises (the assembly stores) on the whereabouts of the electrical materials and was told the two New Patriotic Party (NPP) constituency executives including the Vice Chairman and Organizer together with an assemblyman sympathetic to the NPP allegedly came and picked those materials some months earlier from the store with the message that the DCE for Chereponi had asked them

The contractor upon receiving this information from the said security man, immediately reported the case to the Chereponi police command in his quest to help him find the alleged criminals since the materials are not the property of the Assembly.

Some arrests were made afterwards on November 20, 2017 but were later granted bail with the intervention of the DCE, Mr. Razak Tahiru after series of interrogations.

The DCE initially denied having any knowledge but subsequently admitted in a meeting held at his house that he directed the items be used in wiring a particular community

The police then went to the Assembly’s stores together with the DCE, the contractor and the alleged perpetrators to assess the situation and it was realized the stolen items are worth GH¢59,750 per the way bill that previously accompanied those cables or materials from the supplier to the stores.

In the process of arraigning the suspects before a Yendi Magistrate Court on November 21, 2017 , it is gathered that the DCE intervened and asked that they give him one week to pay for the full cost of the materials stolen.

When reached, he admitted on phone that the matter has been brought to his attention but denied the electrical materials were kept at stores as claimed by the contractor.

“They were abandoned at the DCE’s residents and I asked that they use some cables for wiring a particular community. This is being fueled by the NDC….I had a meeting with the contractor and the police and we are about resolving the matter. I went to Tamale and just returned so we will look into the matter and solve it. This is not anything to worry about”, he disclosed.