FDA exonerates CEO in bribery scandal, dismisses head of legal affairs

The head of Legal Affairs for Ghana's Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Mrs Cynthia Dapaah-Ntow, has been sacked over a bribery scandal.

Mrs Dapaah-Ntow was found guilty of misconduct by a disciplinary committee
This was contained in an internal Memo on tuesday evening by the Head of Human Resource of the state regulator.

MRS CYNTHIA DAPAAH

The memo read:
“Management would like to inform Staff that effective 18th May 2021, Mrs. Cynthia Dapaah-Ntow, Head of Legal, will cease to be a staff of the FDA. The decision was arrived at after Mrs. Cynthia Dapaah-Ntow was taken through the internal disciplinary process of the Authority, following a charge of misconduct leveled against her.

“The Disciplinary Committee recommended to the Board that the appointment of Mrs. Cynthia Dapaah-Ntow be terminated. The Board has subsequently accepted the recommendation and given her the required notice of termination of appointment.

“The Staff are also hereby informed that the Investigative Committee exonerated the CEO of all allegations of wrongdoing on her part.

“Management appreciates the patience exhibited by all Staff while the disciplinary process lasted.

“As a matured [sic] regulatory agency whose core values include transparency, fairness, and integrity, the Authority reiterates its zero-tolerance for bribery and corruption and reaffirms its commitments to the staff.” 

Mrs. Cynthia Dapaah-Ntow was cited in an investigative report  by Manasseh Azure Awuni, titled "the returned bribe" in which the CEO of the COA FS food supplement, Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan, alleged the FDA attempted to extort money from him when his product gained popularity in the wake of the COVID-19.

Mrs Dapaah-Ntow is alleged to have demanded a bribe of $100,000 for the CEO of the FDA and another $100,000 for herself.

This happened at the same period FDA, in April 2020, suspended the production license of COA FS, citing breaches in safety protocols.