Some investors in the Bawku Municipality of the Upper East region have petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to help retrieve monies deposited with a microfinance company reportedly owned by the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the Builsa South District, Kwame Daniel Gariba.
The depositors, who say they are over 600 in number, are demanding back from the company a sum of Gh¢450,000 invested in 2013. They also expect the DCE to pay damages of Gh¢36,000 and a cost of Gh¢18, 000 awarded them in 2017 after they dragged the company to the Bawku Circuit Court.
In a press statement issued last Friday, the investors said the DCE convinced them to do business with the company after he made a radio announcement in Bawku and presented a purported Bank of Ghana licence certifying his company to run a microfinance business.
“As law-abiding citizens, a complaint was made to the police and Hon. Daniel Kwame Gariba was arrested and subsequently granted bail. The matter was sent to court and none of the defendants made an appearance. The director of COMAID and current DCE for Builsa South, Hon. Daniel Gariba was served with the judgment. Our checks at the registrar’s office of the Bawku Circuit Court revealed that the defendants never made a response to the judgment.
“However, Daniel Kwame Gariba promised us that we should pray for him to be nominated as DCE for Builsa South so that he could get money to pay us. We prayed for him and God granted our request. By the special grace of God, he was nominated and subsequently endorsed as the DCE for Builsa South. Unfortunately, ever since he became the DCE, the matter has escalated. He never answers our calls. As a matter of fact, he told us that by virtue of his position as a DCE, there is nothing we can do to him. Simply put he will not pay the monies because he is now a DCE,” the statement said.
Below is the full statement issued by the depositors:
Date: 14th June, 2018
From: COMAID MICROFINANACE INVESTORS
Subject: IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, we thank you all for coming to give us coverage and audience on this very important legal tussle between we victims of COMAID and the defendants; COMAID Micro finance company, Daniel Gariba the Director of COMAID who is now the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Builsa South; and Mr. Shadrach Abugri the manager of COMAID, Bawku Branch. This is a case that has travelled for almost two years.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, we want to use this platform to make a passionate appeal to His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to intervene on this matter by talking to his appointee, Hon. Kwame Daniel Gariba, the current District Chief Executive (DCE) for Builsa South and Director of COMAID Micro finance Company to pay our monies.
Somewhere in 2013, the Hon. Daniel Kwame Gariba came to Bawku and made advertisements on Source 101.1 FM, a locally based radio station, about his microfinance company called COMAID. He made an advertisement on a promotional package in his company for an investment yielding returns at a varying rate of 120%, 90%, 60%, and 25% for a period of 12 months. He presented a license of his company from the Bank of Ghana to engage in such investments, savings and ‘susu’ collection. He said COMAID was investing our monies in gold business at the international level.
He and the branch manager, Mr. Shadrach Abugri were able to convince us the victims that COMAID was a credible and trustworthy micro finance company. We the victims, numbering over 600 people invested our hard earned monies into COMAID with the hope of getting the agreed benefits at the end of the agreed period. However, we were shocked to the bone marrow when we realized that the whole thing was a grand scheme by the Hon. DCE for Builsa South to defraud us the innocent citizens. Customers whose investments matured were not paid and when pressure was mounting on them to pay, they closed the branch office and disappeared into thin air. As for the branch manager, Mr. Shadrach Abugri, nobody knows where he is till date.
As law abiding citizens, a complaint was made to the police and Hon. Daniel Kwame Gariba was arrested and subsequently granted bail. The matter was sent to court and none of the defendants made an appearance. A default judgment was pronounced in favour of the plaintiffs on 20th December, 2017. The court presided over by his Honour P.D. Gomashie (ESQ) , a Circuit Judge at Bawku ruled that “ the plaintiffs recover from the defendants the sum of four hundred and fifty thousand Ghana cedis (GHC450,000.00) as monies the plaintiffs invested with the defendants , damages of thirty six thousand Ghana cedis (36,000.00) and cost of eighteen thousand Ghana cedis (GHC18,000.00). The director of COMAID and current DCE for Builsa South, Hon. Daniel Gariba was served with the judgment. Our checks at the registrar’s office of the Bawku Circuit Court revealed that the defendants never made a response to the judgment. However, Hon. Daniel Kwame Gariba promised us that we should pray for him to be nominated as DCE for Builsa South so that he could get money to pay us. We prayed for him and God granted our request. By the special grace of God, he was nominated and subsequently endorsed as the DCE for Builsa South.
Unfortunately, ever since he became the DCE, the matter has escalated. He never answers our calls. As a matter of fact, he told us that by virtue of his position as a DCE, there is nothing we can do to him. Simply put he will not pay the monies because he is now a DCE. Is this what political power is meant for? To suppress the weak and cheat the citizens on whose taxes you feed fats?
We want to send a strong reminder to Hon. Daniel Gariba that the truth is on our side because he is feeding on our hard earned monies and God will surely fight for us because our God is a just God.
Most of the victims and their relatives are currently going through frustration and hardship because their life savings is what they used to invest with COMAID Micro finance company.
Once again, we call on the president of the republic, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo is swiftly intervene on this urgent matter.
God bless our Homeland Ghana.
Thank you.
Sign
Jackson Awinbe
Sule Fataw
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
