Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw
Owusu
Tuesday,
February 09, 2016
Pressure group OccupyGhana says the Attorney General’s (AG’s)
refusal to provide detailed information about the circumstances leading to the
rebranding of Metro Mass Transit buses shows that the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) government has something to hide from the public.
According to the group, the request to get detailed information on
the infamous GH¢3.6 million bus rebranding
transaction involving Smarttys Management and Productions Ltd owned by actress
Selassie Ibrahim, was turned down by the AG.
Details about the GH¢3.6 million, cost of the re-branding to the
taxpayer, set tongues wagging recently and it also led to the resignation of
Dzifa Ativor as Minister for Transportation.
Unknown
Principle
A statement issued in Accra by OccupyGhana said members were utterly
shocked that the AG would refuse to provide the information regarding the
transaction and accused the AG of hiding behind an ‘unknown principle’ to deny them
access to information.
“We are saddened by this blatant attempt by none other than the
Attorney General of this country to deny citizens the right to know what
happened to their money,” the statement posited.
Shocking
Revelation
“We are amazed that the Attorney General is hiding behind an ‘unknown
principle’ to deny access to information that might reveal that the bus
branding job was actually concluded and the figure of roughly GH¢3.6 million
communicated to the Ministry of Finance for payment to Smarttys, even before
the same Ministry of Transport wrote to Smarttys for a quotation for the job,”
they noted.
According to OccupyGhana, the deal was also concluded “even before
the same Ministry of Transport applied for approval for single-source procurement
from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), proffering what is at best
described as dubious, shameful and pathetic grounds for that single-source
procurement.”
The group further said it was also saddened that the AG wants to
hide from Ghanaians the fact that “the contract document covering a transaction
of this magnitude was on just two (2) pages of paper with absolutely no
warranties, defects liability period, or events of default clauses to protect
the interest of the people of Ghana,”
Dubious Contract
OccupyGhana insisted that the contract was ‘dubious’ and said it was
never submitted to the AG before it was signed and added that it was rather a
director at the Ministry of Transport and not the sector minister, that signed
it.
“We are amazed that an
Attorney General who has discovered and written on all of these grave
infractions of our law in her report to the Chief of Staff, would turn around
to deny the citizens of this country access to such critical information about
our national purse and its use,” it wondered.
Something to Hide
“The vacuous and trifling nature of this excuse fortifies our belief
that the government has something to hide, and that all efforts are being made
to ensure that the information surrounding this Impugned Transaction, particularly
the Attorney General’s own far-reaching report on the matter, is suppressed to
protect certain persons who acted in that transaction, from exposure and
possible prosecution,” OccupyGhana averred.
Court Action
The group said once the AG had refused it the information, it would
carry out its threat to sue the government to compel it to tell the public
details about the deal.
“Ghanaians are entitled to know everything about the Impugned
Transaction and the Attorney General cannot engage in illegal and
unconstitutional stonewalling, to prevent us from knowing the full truth, and
consequently prevent us from demanding that erring persons be punished in
accordance with the law,” it concluded.
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