Alarm Blow Over $100,000

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Created on Tuesday, 06 September 2011 00:00

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Alarm Blow Over $100,000

“Don’t fuck with me” was heard yesterday on the airwaves as an angry female customer of the Venture Capital Trust Fund

(VCTF) yelled at the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the government agency, Daniel Kofi Duku, who she accused of sharing 50/50 a loan of $100,000 she contracted with his approval.

The integrity of the CEO has, by the revelation, been put on the line as the woman screamed at him “cut the bullshit and don’t be greedy,” in a mood that depicted a relationship that had gone sour.

The female customer, whose only name was mentioned as Jennifer, and Daniel Kofi Duku, the CEO, whose voices were recorded and played back yesterday on Oman FM in Accra, were at each other’s throat. It was a confusing discourse as each of them sought to explain their positions regarding the terms of payment of the money which was shared between them, even though on paper, the money was given to Jennifer.

Jennifer, who said she was peeved, claimed that she could not be asked to pay the principal amount of $100,000 because after all, she and Kofi Duku shared the money.

Laced with intermittent harsh language, the discourse, with a certain Kofi Sarpong explaining the points to both parties, was an important expose on how the resources of VCTF are being managed or mismanaged.

In a country where voice recordings remain controversial evidence of telltale discourses, it would not be surprising if the embattled CEO does not distance himself from it.

The lady pointed out in the recording that she played a critical role in getting Kofi Duku his appointment as the CEO. “But for me, you would not have a job to feed yourself,” she said.

She was obsessed with finding out how much the CEO had paid in interest since both of them shared the amount in question.

She would not take the CEO’s explanation that he asked her to come to the office to find out how much had been paid so far. Jennifer, in her fit of anger, threatened to write a cheque in the company’s name to pay the amount due.

The reference to the company further confused listeners who sought to find out whether Kofi Duku and the lady run a joint company.

Jennifer insisted that she would only pay the interest, not ready to countenance anything regarding the principal at this time since after all, she had up to the last day before the loan clocked a year.

“I would call my uncle and tell him. You promised assisting me to raise the loan and also promised buying me a car. Did you not? Kofi Duku, why are you so greedy?” she said angrily.

Kofi Duku, who hit back, described her remarks as nonsense and even referred to her as a whore, to which she asked “me stupid whore?”

“I should be the last person Kofi Duku should fuck up. I don’t have time for nonsense,” she charged.

Although Kofi Duku attempted defending himself, he was mostly drowned by the shouting lady whose anger appeared to have given her an edge over the CEO.

She demanded to know how much Kofi Duku had paid out of the $50,000. His answer, however, did not come cut and dry.

The CEO asked that she turn up at the office for such details.

“You told me that I should pay by the end of the year but would pay a monthly interest on the principal,” she said, adding, “So why is he sitting at the back making noise?”

Daniel Kofi Duku replaced Nana Osei-Bonsu as CEO of the VCTF which was established by an Act of Parliament with a seed money of $20 million, under the Kufuor administration to, among other things, provide capital to Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs).

Mr. Duku promised raising the resource base of the fund to some $100m for onward lending to SMEs, but such an expose, if widespread, could render his pledge a pipedream.
Attempts to get more explanations from Mr Duku yielded no results.

By A.R. Gomda

Source: Daily Guide/Ghana