Coby Frimpong paid for useless strategic plan

Last Updated on Friday, 17 June 2016, 12:47 by Denis Chabrol

Government has paid off a long-time close associate of former President, Bharrat Jagdeo for a strategic plan that Minister of State, Joseph Harmon on Friday said was useless by the current Minister of Social Protection.

Harmon said US$40,000 (approximately GYD$8 million) was paid to  Dr. Cobina “Coby” Frimpong as part payment on a contract that the consultant had inked with the then People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) government.

“The work, which was done by Dr. Frimpong, is not work which the present Minister of Social Protection can use,” Harmon told a post-cabinet news conference. Prior to the May 11, 2015 general and regional elections, that entity was known as the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.

The Minister said government decided to pay Frimpong the remainder of the money because it was a contractual obligation. “It had to with a strategic plan which Dr. Frimpong was to provide for the Ministry of Social Protection but we are committed to contracts and because we are so committed to these contracts, the balance of the money which was held in the Ministry of Finance was paid over,” he said.

Frimpong had worked at the Ministry of Finance while Jagdeo had been at the helm there. He later worked at the Office of the President.

Since assuming office, the APNU+AFC government has been sued by several persons for breach of employment contract.