A/R: Banka chief jailed for squandering $15k meant for community development

Osabarima Twiampomah III, the Chief of Banka, a farming community in the Asante Akyem South Municipality of the Ashanti region, has been sentenced to three months in jail by an Accra High Court for fraudulently appropriating $150,000 designated for community development projects.

The funds, donated by Gold Coast Company in 2010, were intended for developmental projects in the acutely deprived community, which lacks basic amenities including toilet facilities.

According to the prosecution, the 65-year-old chief seized the funds and denied his community the needed development. Initially denying receipt of the $150,000 cheque earmarked for the community’s ten-year development plan, Osabarima Twiampomah III allegedly confessed to the Chief of Akyem Abuakwa, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, that he had received the funds in November 2021.

Delivering the judgment on Tuesday, High Court Judge Comfort K. Tasiame stated that she had been lenient in her sentencing due to the chief’s age.

In addition to the three-month jail sentence, Nana Twiampomah III, also known privately as Frederick Kofi Frimpong, has been fined 2,000 penalty units or will serve an additional five years in jail if he defaults on the fine.

A handful of members of the Banka community who attended the court session expressed satisfaction with the judgment.