… Against Groupe Nduom (1)
*Using position and legal instruments for destruction
*Cites “Orders from Above” for his irrational behaviour
Today’s investigations have revealed that the Chief Executive of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Hayford Attah Krufi has engaged in a one-sided battle with anyone, anything Groupe Nduom, often speaking and shouting like a man possessed by some destructive spirit. We have used the word “vendetta” to mean “ series of acts done by someone over a long period of time to cause harm to a disliked person or group.”
It is Attah Krufi who has prevented former Groupe Nduom employees particularly former employees of GN Bank/Savings from being paid their Tier 3 Pension Scheme benefits. What have these employees done to deserve being punished by the
NPRA CEO? The former employees were called to a meeting at the NPRA after they demanded that their pension funds be paid to them. Instead of agreeing to make this happen, the CEO was recorded rather blaming Groupe Nduom for actions he claimed were illegal. When they told him they knew the money to pay them was there, he still till today has refused to let the custodian who has the money available to pay them.
He frequently blames Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom for his erratic behaviour even though Dr. Nduom does not get involved in the day -to- day operations of the entities he is trying to bring down.
Point of fact to be explained in Part 2 of this report, Mr. Atta Krufi for more than three years has told everyone within earshot and written that Groupe Nduom illegally withdrew over GHC13 million from the GN Tier 3 Pension Scheme; and that the money did not exist. After the GN Savings Receiver paid over GHC7 million of this money to the pension trustee, Mr. Attah Krufi has now turned around to appoint an administrator to take over the Scheme and has prevented the suffering former GN employees from being paid their Scheme balances.
The Today Newspaper launched a research into the activities of the NPRA a few weeks ago, by formally and respectfully sending a letter to request information about the pension industry, performance, annual report and the relative position of companies in the industry from 2016 to 2022. Up until today, they have not responded to this request. Rather, NPRA’s CEO has resorted to trying to figure out the motivation for the research.
For the avoidance of doubt, Today has sent similar requests to the National Insurance Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bank of Ghana. However, the NPRA has sought to personalize this professional endeavour as a Dr. Nduom matter, and the CEO Attah Krufi has exposed himself, perhaps with a guilty conscience, and the agenda he has been carrying out to cause destruction to Dr. Nduom and Groupe Nduom.
So who is Hayford Attah-Krufi?
An article written by Michael K. Ansah in Modern Ghana documented the following:
“On Sunday 26 October, 2009, Mr. Hayford Attah Krufi, a primary school teacher in London and precious Chairman of the NPP UK won the elections and retained his position as the Chair of the NPP UK & Ireland Branch.
However, it was a bittersweet victory as the election was tainted with nepotism, tribalism and downright arrogance and impudence. His competitor was Mr. Richard Dombo, an extremely formidable candidate, Lawyer an resource manager. Mr. Dombo, son of the original Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition should have really won.”
The NPRA CEO is a politician, a very active one, who has ridden on the back of his party affiliation and contributions to be recommended to the President of the country for appointment to his current position. The CEO is considered a “very powerful and connected party member with sponsors and fathers and mothers at the top,” according to one national party officer. He is said to have sponsored many NPP members of parliament and apparently is not hesitant to confront Jubilee House occupants.
He did not rise from within NPRA. He is not a career pension professional. So it can be assumed that he was placed at the NPRA to carry out the policies of his party the NPP regarding pensions. But he has turned his back on his party’s honourable positions regarding pensions and the private sector.
The NPP in the Fourth Republic has championed private participation in pension administration and is the one that brought the pension reform into being. The NPP is the one that says it believes in the private sector engine and wants to remove the interference of the state in business. But the actions of Hayford Attah Krufi per Today’s research, goes contrary to the clear private sector polities of John Agyekum Kufuor and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The CEO has persistently used the regulations of the NPRA as a hammer to break up and interfere with the activities and decisions of pension market players. We have documentary evidence that he has stopped some companies from porting schemes from one trustee to another when they have faced difficulties with their existing trustees.
On the other hand, he has used his regulatory prerogative to choose trustees for pension schemes that are private and voluntary. An example of this is his recent decision against a Groupe Nduom pension company:
“The Authority, in accordance with section 164 (5) of the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766) has suspended the powers of the Board of Trustees (BoT) over the pension fund assets and appointed an administrator to exercise the powers of the BoT. The new administrator is Negotiated Benefits Trust Company Limited and the BoT of their schem, Fihankra Provident Fund, exercise the powers of GN Tier 3 Scheme as from August 10, 2022.” (Letter dated 3rd November 2022)
Our Research team is studying the bona fides of Negotiated Benefits Trust. Who are the shareholders, directors and management? What’s their connection with NPRA to cause the CEO to want to destroy one trustee just to hand over funds to be paid to former Groupe Nduom employees? And especially considering that the Scheme, a voluntary Tier 3 one has reportedly been discontinued by the employer? Industry experts are asking if this is another attempt to hand over the business of an indigenous Ghanaian to a foreign company.
The management team of the NPRA are Hayford Attah Krufi CEO, David Tettey-Amey Abbey, Drusilla Frimpong-Addo, John Kwaning Mbroh , James Addai and Gyabaah Anane.
They are supervised by Board of Directors, Paul Simon Koranteng Addo, Dr. Justice Duffu Yankson, Elsie Addo Awadzi, Bright Wireko Brobbey, Hayford Atta Krufi, Joseph Nii Noi Adumuah, Sekyere Benjamin Yeboah Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, Diana Asonaba Dapaah and Alexander Nyarko-Poku.
To be continued next week. We will report on the history of the GN Tier 3 which was started by Dr. Nduom several years, before NPRA came into being; Dr. Nduom’s contributions to bringing private participation into pensions administration in Ghana; and the acts and commissions of Hayford Attah Krufi. We will also confirm the attempt by Atta Krufi to rope in EOCO into his personal vendetta that is bringing the Akufo-Addo administration into disrepute.
We have several documents and may require a Part 3 version to be complete.
One thought on “NPRA’sATTAH KRUFIIn a vendetta war”
Still no Arbitration Board hearing for Groupe Nduom?
I would like my locked-up funds also!