The Ghana National Council (GNC), that represents the Ghanaian community in Chicago, U.S. has finally kicked off the election process despite encountering some struggles recently.
Current President Paa Kwasi Sam has been nominated to run for the 2020 to 2022 term in office even though obstacles threatened his nomination.
Faced with some debt-incurring costs, the council which has just barely achieved a stable economy is fraught with suggestions that the audit committee of the GNC find an external auditor to audit the books which, the council admits it cannot afford because it will return to its worrying fiscal past.
A faction of the GNC formed to oppose the current President Paa Kwasi Sam, recommended that the council undergo an external audit because they claimed the GNC President had not properly accounted for $9,000 which was collected in fees from vendors who participated in the past Ghanafest ’19.
The claims were investigated and later proven false because the $9,000 amount was directly transferred to the GNC account.
The majority of the council therefore dismisses the idea and questions the necessity for an external audit to be conducted considering that it can incur debt which is not good for an organisation that has just barely managed to stabilize its economy in the last three years.
The council said, “For an organization that has struggled financially for over thirty years and only made meaningful financial gains in the past three years under the current President, we think it is absurd to waste such an amount on an audit that does not even have a goal or an iota of proof of financial malfeasance.”
Other than their financial woes, present and to come, the very foundations of the Ghana National Council is threatened due to the operations of the faction who oppose the current administration.
The faction which also forms a part of the election committee made claims that the “current environment is not conducive for elections,” putting the council on shaky ground.
Their proposal to postpone the start of the election process though, was quickly rejected by a majority of members of the GNC.
The council voted to accept and close nominations on Sunday, November 3, 2019.
The council responded, “We observed that the GNC is in a state of grim due to some characters on the council. The Executives are human and might have made one or two mistakes. Many a time they have taken responsibility for their shortcomings openly. Those mistakes are however not financial in nature. The accusers do the same or similar things they accuse the current leadership with impunity.”
It added, “Going forward however, the council must put in place the necessary structures, as an ongoing restructuring process to prevent most of the occurrences that lead to problems in the council.”