Some personnel at the Yendi Prisons Station in the Northern Region say they are worried that the operations of the Officer in-Charge, ADP Victor Douchebe, could jeopardize the progress of the Service. The officers alleged that ADP Douchebe who was transferred to the station about two years ago, is gradually reducing output at the station with what they allege are his ill-mannered relationship with staff. The officers alleged in an interview with Asempa News that apart from preventing them from accompanying colleague officers to the funeral of close relatives, ADP Douchebe allegedly keeps part of funeral donations from the Prisons’ Welfare and gives the remaining to the bereaved officer with an explanation that he would use the part he is keeping to run administrative works at the station. The officers alleged that the Yendi Prison which is a leading farm station in the country has seen its production level reduced, due to the activities of ADP Douchebe. He is also accused of cutting down the quantity of fertilizer meant for growing maize. The officers alleged that what worries them most was a stolen goat that was given to the wife of the Acting Director-General of the Prison Service, Kofi Bansah, when she visited them last December. The officers said the goat which was declared missing by its owner who is a fetish priest in the town was surprisingly given to the wife of Mr. Bansah, when the officers were about to return it to its owner. They alleged that ADP Douchebe is practicing divide and rule at the station while favouring a particular ethnic group ahead of others. The officers said the Member of Parliament for the Yendi Constituency, Iddrisu Baba Tanzania, purchased a television set for the prisoners but ADP Douchebe has taken the TV, saying it was his MP who bought the TV. This compelled inmates to beg a good Samaritan to get them one. The officers alleged that during the District Assembly Elections, ADP Douchebe ordered those who went to supervise elections to pay GH¢10.00 each to those who could not get the opportunity to supervise the election. They added that due to their number, they had about GH¢3,000.00 but ADP Douchebe allegedly divided the money into two and shared one to those who could not partake in the exercise. The officers are therefore calling on the Headquarters of the Ghana Prison Service and President Mills to come to the aid of the Yendi Station to avert an imminent collapse of the station. When Asempa News contacted ADP Victor Douchebe, he denied all the allegations saying “these allegations are nothing more than fabrications, because none of these things can be substantiated”. He said he does not know “which donation” he divided and kept for the administration. On the issue of not allowing co-officers to accompany their colleagues to funerals, ADP Douchebe explained that his outfit does not have enough men to always release them for such activities, but the officer could always go to any of the prison establishment in the locality to ask a senior officer there to give them officers to accompany them to a funeral. “I don’t know what the person meant by saying I am keeping the fertilizer. The person should substantiate the quantity that was given and the quantity I kept and because of that it resulted on poor performance?” he inquired. Commenting on the farm produce that he allegedly took for his personal gains, ADP Douchebe said “I am not the agric officer at the station. It is only the agric officer who can tell so far as this allegation is concerned”. ADP Douchebe therefore called on the officers not to bring their personal problems with him into the station. Story by Kwaku Antwi-Otoo/Asempa FM/Ghana