Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Friday July 8, 2011.
CORRUPTION IN Ghana in recent times under the Mills-Mahama led NDC government seems to have taken a sinister dimension and is gravely affecting the pace of national development in Ghana according to the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), a political pressure group.
“Allegations of corruption in various sectors of the economy have reached enormous proportions and AFAG wishes to call for a probe especially in the areas of public procurement, oil deals and awards of government contracts under the NDC administration,” AFAG said.
A news release issued in Accra and jointly signed by Kwabena Bomfeh, John Kuma, Abu Ramadan, Apietu Ankrah, Arnold Boateng, Henry Asante and Bright Acheampong said there are allegations of corruption in the form of price inflations at the Aboadze Thermal Plant and in the construction of school blocks while there is widespread nepotism in the system.
They said for instance that it has been alleged without any response from the NDC government, that party functionaries of the NDC received at least US$1million dollars in bribery payments from TAQA, the United Arab Emirates based majority shareholder of the Aboadze Thermal Plant and that this issue is currently before a US court.
They further noted that in her address to parliament recently, the Minister of Education, Betty Mould-Iddrisu said the cost of building one six unit classroom block costs between GH¢260,000.00 and GH¢280,000.00, adding “we are dismayed by this over-bloated contract quotations and massive corruption under the Professor Mills led NDC government who made corruption a campaign issue in the 2008 elections.”
According to AFAG there is “undisputable” evidence to prove that the same projects are being constructed at far lower costs under the same NDC government adding “for instance in November 2009, the Awutu Senya District awarded the construction of a six unit classroom block, office, store, staffroom and 4-seater KVIP latrine and 2 unit urinal at the cost of GH¢73,000.00.”
“AFAG strongly believes that this is a clear case of massive corruption and daylight robbery from the limited resources of the state by the NDC government. It is important to observe that for every one school block built under the emergency schools project, the NDC government could have built four school blocks with the same level of resources if open national competitive tendering processes as required by the procurement act was dully followed,” the statement noted.
AFAG said the Minister of Roads and Transport, Joe Gidisu was quoted as saying that the Achimota Ofankor road which was awarded by the previous government at the cost of $45million has been reviewed (inflated) by the NDC government to now cost about $135 million dollars and asked “what has accounted for this bloated increment in the cost of the project?
“President Mills continues to pontificate and sermonize more than the Pope on corruption and bribery whilst he presides over one of the most corrupt governments ever to rule our country. Within two years of this administration, we have seen some deputy ministers and presidential aides who were sharing one bedroom accommodations with their mothers building mansions or two with a salary of just about $3,000 a month, according to allegations made by the NDC MP for Lower Manya Krobo. Where did some of these people who never worked a day in their lives get all that money?” the group wondered.
AFAG said that after all the promises to investigate various corruption allegations “the President strangely justified the unacceptable behavior of his former Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon Muntaka with the infamous statement that “is Muntaka the first Minister to travel abroad with his girlfriend?” adding “The deliberate silence of the President on the alleged Stan Dogbe GH¢120, 000.00 hampers media package has further proved the President’s lackadaisical attitude towards the fight against corruption in Ghana.”
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