Ex-Zongo Fund CEO Flees

New Deputy reveals how Akufo Addo’s Appointee Hijacked State Fund, Stole Cash, Planted a Gun and Secretly Tracked His Successor

By Prince Ahenkorah

In a scandal that reads like a spy thriller, the immediate past Chief Executive Officer of the Zongo Development Fund (ZDF), Dr. Arafat Sulemana Abdulai, is at the center of a breathtaking plot that has left a multi-million cedi state agency paralyzed, according to explosive revelations by his successor.
Dr. Abdulai, who has since fled the country while under investigation, is accused of transforming the ZDF into his personal fiefdom hoarding official vehicles, siphoning public funds into private mobile money accounts, and leaving a loaded firearm and a secret tracking device in his official car for his successor, Alhaji Halidu Haruna.
The ZDF generates revenue from community facilities like Astroturfs and public toilets, with fees paid via designated MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) numbers. In a stunning admission to Radio Gold, CEO Alhaji Halidu Haruna revealed that his predecessor maintained an iron grip on this cash flow.
“I have never come across any request by the former CEO to the Finance Minister seeking approval to utilize these internally generated funds,” Haruna stated, a clear violation of the ZDF Act (Act 964 of 2017).
Auditors discovered that 20 crucial MoMo revenue numbers remained under Dr. Abdulai’s exclusive control after he left office. From just six accounts they could partially access, they traced a whopping GH₵44,000 directly transferred into a MoMo account personally owned by the former CEO. No documentation exists to explain the transaction.
The brazenness didn’t stop with cash. Upon taking office, Haruna was informed 16 official vehicles were due for handover. Not a single one was on the Fund’s premises.
Some were found with senior staff; others vanished. The former CEO’s excuse? “Security concerns.” Retrieving the official Toyota Land Cruiser became a saga. Dr. Abdulai allegedly insisted on an “informal meeting” outside office premises to resolve the handover, a red flag Haruna wisely refused.
When the Land Cruiser was finally returned, a chilling discovery was made: a fully loaded pump-action gun had been left inside, unreported to authorities. The weapon was handed over to the Abelenkpe Police.
The plot thickened. A subsequent security sweep revealed a clandestine tracking device secretly installed in the CEO’s official vehicle without any authorization or record.
The sinister purpose of the tracker became clear during an official public engagement, when the vehicle was remotely immobilized, stranding the new CEO and causing major embarrassment. National Security operatives had to be called in to locate and remove the illicit device.
“This goes beyond corruption; this is espionage and a direct threat to the occupant of that office,” a shaken security source told The New Republic.
Haruna petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, leading to a Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) probe. But as the net closed, Dr. Arafat Sulemana Abdulai fled Ghana.
His escape is matched by an alarming wall of silence. Despite official letters from the ZDF, and directives from the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament and the Office of the President, telecommunications giant MTN has flatly refused to cooperate in transferring the hijacked MoMo accounts back to state control.
The rot runs deeper. Auditors found Dr. Abdulai operated a shadow cash system, withdrawing money to pay contractors directly with no vouchers, blatantly flouting procurement laws. Three Fund vehicles were not even registered in its name. While two have been reclaimed, one remains a ghost asset. Only 13 of the 16 official vehicles have been accounted for.

The Burning Questions
This scandal leaves Ghana with terrifying questions:
1. Who enabled a single man to exercise such unchecked, criminal control over a state agency?
2. What powerful forces are protecting him, allowing MTN to ignore Parliament and the Presidency?
3. Who was the hidden gun for, and who aided the installation of a spy tracker on a state vehicle?
4. How was he allowed to slip out of the country amidst a high-level BNI investigation?
The Zongo Development Fund was created to empower marginalized communities. Under Dr. Abdulai’s watch, it became a private treasury, an armory, and a surveillance base. The nation now watches to see if the system that enabled this scandal has the courage to investigate itself.