A former Board Chairman of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has faulted the acting CEO of the Hospital for not informing the Health Minister before taking the decision to abrogate a revenue collection contract with Unibank.

Mr Edward Annan said in the absence of the Board, Dr Felix Anyah ought to have sought permission from the sector Minister before taking a decision as important as abrogating a contract.

Even though he admits the CEO and the management can take some decisions in the interest of the hospital, he was quick to add that decisions that will have long lasting impact on the hospital should be taken with the approval of the Board which represents the interest of government.

And in the absence of a board, the CEO ought to have sought clearance from the sector minister before taking that decision, Mr Annan stated.

He was reacting to the contract abrogation controversy involving Korle Bu Teaching hospital, a controversy triggered by musician Kwame Asare Obeng popularly called A Plus who accused two chiefs of staff  of corruption.

According to the musician, the two Chiefs of Staff, Abu Jinapor and Francis Boakye Asenso were corrupt when they demanded Korle Bu to rescind its decision to terminate a revenue collection contract with Unibank.

He argued the two wanted Unibank to be given the contract because the local bank contributed to the NPP campaign in 2016.

He has since apologized for his accusations, but maintained the two men were naïve in how they handled the whole matter.

Korle Bu teaching Hospital in July 2017 took a decision to terminate a contract it had with Unibank for the collection of revenue on behalf of the hospital.

The hospital would rather have Stanbic takeover fully in the revenue collection duties, a responsibility they shared with Unibank until the decision to abrogate the contract with the latter was taken.

But Unibank was unhappy with the decision taken by the hospital and petitioned the presidency and the Chief of Staff.

The Hospital has since rescinded its decision to abrogate the contract with Unibank.

It has emerged that the sector Minister, Mr Kweku Agyemang Manu ordered Korle Bu to rescind its decision to abrogate the contract with Unibank.

Discussing the matter on Joy FM’s newsnight programme, Monday, Mr Eddy Annan who served as Board Chair of Hospital said the CEO erred in bypassing the sector minister to take the decision.

“One has got to define the roles and levels of decisions the CEO can take. The Board is the owner of the institution which is the government. The minister represents the president on that. The Board runs the company on behalf of government. The CEO runs the day-to-day business of the institution. There are decisions the CEO cannot take unless there is a board. In the absence of the board he has to go to the minister,” he said.

When he was asked if the CEO had the right to terminate a contract, he said: “I don’t think he has the absolute power to terminate the contract. I think he’s got to ask the shareholder, the owner of the institution which is government…”

Eddy Annan was however convinced that the Banks rather officials of Korle Bu are better placed to collect revenues on behalf of the hospital.

Eddy Annan

Having led the hospital for a number of years, Eddy Annan conceded that there were lots of revenue leakages when officials of the hospital were tasked to collect the revenue.

He said the decision to cede the revenue collection responsibility to the banks proved more effective and actually saved the hospital lots of revenue.

Meanwhile the senior staff association of Korlebu (KOSSA) is calling for a ceasefire among contending parties in the scandal.

President of the senior staff association Charles Nii Kwade Ofei Palm told Joy News his outfit has met with all the stakeholders in the matter and have agreed on a way forward.