Awuni Akyireba, an Accounts Officer who was fired for “serious misconduct,” has filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.
Mr Akyireba is requesting that the court reject the Governing Board’s decision to remove him.
On Friday, January 28, 2022, the matter is likely to be heard in court.
“The Disciplinary Committee of the Hospital Board has established that your allegation that COVID-19 donations to KATH were used to buy luxury vehicles had no foundation and, therefore, was a total falsehood,” the hospital wrote to Mr Akyireba in a letter signed by its board Chairman Nana Effah Ampenteng.
“Again, it is true that the official car for the medical director was involved in an accident, but a police report on the incident indicates that the driver was Prof Baafuor Opoku, the Medical Director, not his wife, as you reported,” the statement continued.
The letter continued: “By choosing to go to the media with matters of KATH without authority, you render yourself guilty of major misconduct under the disciplinary code of KATH Section 13:02 xii (misconduct).”
“Besides, a content analysis of your response to the query given you clearly indicates that you willfully used abusive language on your superior, contrary to the Disciplinary Code, section 13.01 I (poor performance) and ii (misconduct).”
According to the KATH, the accounts officer’s failure to appear before its Disciplinary Committee despite “glaring evidence” that he saw the invitation, means he has committed a “major offence under the code.”
“By a decision of the Hospital Board, you are, accordingly, dismissed with immediate effect,” the letter added.
The Accounts Officer had accused the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Dr Oheneba Owusu Danso, of misappropriating funds meant for COVID-19.
He had also intimated that the funds were used to procure luxury vehicles.
He therefore petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the CEO.
