A Former Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Maxwell Kofi Jumah has rubbished claims by the Kumasi Serious Fraud Office (SFO), that he re-allocated a building site designated for the Ghana Traditional Caterers Association (GTCA) to a different firm, the All State Construction Limited. Speaking on an Accra-based radio station, Oman Fm’s morning show last Wednesday, Mr. Jumah described the officials of the SFO as comedians, who entertain the public when “Agya Koo’s comic movies have run out of the system.” He told the host of the programme, Fiifi Boafoh to table what he termed as something better for discussion. “If SFO is investigating the matter, they should include the Squadron Yard and the FBI, I am waiting for them”, he stated. Mr. Jumah, currently the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asokwa, is said to have illegally re-allocated the site to one Kingsley Nana Asante of the All State Construction firm, for the construction of a shopping mall on a Build-Operate and transfer basis. The findings of the SFO indicated that a Memorandum of Understanding, dated September 30, 2003, was signed between the KMA and the All State Construction Limited. The document was signed by the then Metro Chief Executive without a name, with the then Metro Co-ordinating Director, Albert Anthony Ampong, and Metro Engineer, Charles Apomah Mensah, as witnesses. The SFO has recommended that the site revert to the Ghana Traditional Caterers Association as the property was illegally allocated to All State Construction firm. According to a report by the SFO, issued on December 17, 2009, the transaction between Jumah and All State Construction was without recourse to Assembly regulations and tender procedures. Last week, the KMA Boss, Mr. Samuel Sarpong, endorsed the recommendations of the SFO, and directed that the GTCA recover possession of the building. The Chronicle is informed that the Assembly was contemplating revoking the Memorandum of Understanding single-handedly entered into by the former Chief executive, Mr. Jumah, and All State Construction, in which public land was leased to one Nana Asante for 40 years, because its (MOU) was administered outside the Assembly and the legal framework. Nana Asante confided to The Chronicle that he had valid documents for holding onto the land, even though he had not been able to produce a copy of the said documents to the SFO. Checks at the Metro Development Control office and Legal Department of the KMA indicated that there was no contract between the KMA and All State Construction, regarding the said land in dispute. Credit: Nathaniel Y. Yankson/nayank80.blogspot.com