Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw
Owusu
Wednesday,
February 03, 2016
Pressure group OccupyGhana has given the Attorney General (AG) one
week ultimatum to provide detailed information on the infamous GH¢3.6 million bus rebranding transaction involving Smarttys
Management and Productions Ltd, owned by actress Selassie Ibrahim.
The group threatened that should the government refuse to provide
information relating to the controversial deal within a week, the AG should consider
the letter as a notice of intention to sue the government in court.
Contract Details
The GH¢3.6 million being the cost of the rebranding to the taxpayer,
set tongues wagging recently, leading to the resignation of Dzifa Attivor as
Minister for Transportation.
“We have closely followed the matters surrounding the bus rebranding
transaction involving Smarttys Management and Productions Ltd (Smarttys),
leading to the investigation conducted by the Attorney General at the request
of the Chief of Staff. This culminated in the resignation of the immediate past
Minister for Transport, Madam Dzifa Attivor, and the subsequent agreement between
the Ministry of Transport (‘Ministry’) and Smarttys for the refund of some GH¢1.5
million to the state.”
Suppressing
Information
OccupyGhana said the group is “not satisfied” with the position of
the government that the said resignation and refund should conclude the matter,
adding, “and we note sadly that the government has not been forthcoming with
any information about the Attorney General's investigation and its findings and
full details of the impugned transaction.”
The group said it strongly believed that the government was
deliberately suppressing information on the matter and it was with the aim of “preventing
the proper legal steps from being taken to tackle this serious allegation of
corruption.”
It believed that all the information surrounding what it called “the
impugned bus branding contract” constituted information “that should be made
available to all Ghanaians,” adding, “We are fortified in this belief by Article
21(1)(f) of the Constitution which provides that ‘all persons shall have the
right to... information, subject to such qualifications and laws as are
necessary in a democratic society.’"
Conceivable
Public Interest
OccupyGhana said there is “no conceivable public interest privilege
that applies to deny us access to that information” and wants the government to
give cogent answers to some pressing questions relating to the transaction.
The pressure group would like to know if it was Smarttys that approached
the Ministry of Transport with a proposal to brand the buses or the other way
round. “If it was the ministry that wrote to Smarttys, did the ministry receive
a written response from Smarttys giving quotations for the impugned
transaction; and if so, may we have a copy of that letter?”
Other
Quotations
It further wants to know if the ministry at any time relevant to the
transaction wrote to request for quotations from any other companies or
entities apart from Smarttys, or whether it received any quotations from any
other entities and whether there was any adoption of public procurement
procedure in the selection of Smarttys.
“Did the ministry receive written approval from the PPA for the
procurement of services from Smarttys? If PPA approval was obtained, did the ministry
communicate that approval in writing to Smarttys; and if so, may we have a copy
of that letter and any attachments to it?”
OccupyGhana would also like to know if the ministry executed a
contract in respect of the transaction and a signed contract with Metro Mass
Transit (MMT), adding, “When did MMT surrender the buses to Smarttys to begin
the actual work of branding the buses, and when was that work completed?
“Did the ministry write to the Ministry of Finance requesting the
release of funds for payment to Smarttys for the impugned transaction; and if
so, may we have a copy of that letter? Did the ministry receive from the
Ministry of Finance an approval in writing to any request to release funds for
the impugned transaction; and if so, may we have a copy of that written
approval?”
It also would like to know the number of times payments were made to
Smarttys as well as the taxes paid or withheld.
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