The state of the Ghanaian economy lecture,
comprehensively delivered by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia last week, has ruffled
feathers within the NDC administration so much so that 96 hours after the
lecture, the government has not been able to put out an official response to the
lecture. More surprising is the fact that even in all their attempts to
denounce Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s lecture on radio and on social media, the NDC
has uncharacteristically remained silent on one serious issue – the issue of
corruption; an issue Dr. Bawumia elaborately exposed the government on.
Speaking on Thursday at the National Theatre, Dr. Bawumia identified the
issue of corruption – the overpricing of contracts, absence of value for money
in projects undertaken by the NDC, as one of the key reasons why despite the
enormous resources the government has had, it had failed to materialise in the
lives of the Ghanaian people. Dr. Bawumia, who decided not to leave the issue at
mere speculation, proceeded to list vivid examples of projects which had clearly
been overpriced or corruptly awarded.
“I saw two virtually identical
sets of Teachers bungalows in Dambai Teacher Training College this year; one
constructed under the NPP in 2007 and the other by the NDC in 2011. These two
buildings are side by side. The one constructed by the NPP cost some GH¢195,000
whereas the one constructed by the NDC cost some GH¢ 900,000, 4.6 times more.
What accounts for this huge difference?”
“Another example is a
runway rehabilitation alone at Kumasi airport which cost this country $23.8
million, whereas a proposed airport at Ho is estimated at $25 million. It is on
record that Ethiopia is building its ShireAirport at a cost of $21
million,” he said.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumi also proceeded to touch on
the Ameri Power Deal and the Bus Branding scandal that rocked the country some
months ago.
“The issue of the Ameri Power Deal is one episode of
issues bordering on corruption and the failure to ensure value for money for the
people of Ghana. In this deal, Ghana is basically purchasing 10 Gas Power Plants
for $510 million even though the same Plants can be acquired for $220 million on
the market. The government has claimed that the manufacturers of the plant, GE
would have provided the plant at a far more expensive price. The situation of
overpricing of contracts through the use of sole sourcing as the procurement
method of choice is very typical of this John Mahama NDC
government.”
“An amount of GH¢3.65 million, from oil funds, was
used for the re-branding of 116 Metro Mass Rapid Transit buses. Money was
earmarked for a supposed Osu railway. Meanwhile, the company that actually did
the work of employing Ghanaians to do the branding of the buses says it charged
GH¢11,600 as cost for the branding of all the 116 buses,” he added.
In what has been termed as a demolishing exercise, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
concretely finished the government on the issue of the obscene overpricing of
contracts by adding two more examples and comparing the relative costs of Energy
projects in Egypt and Abu Dhabi as well as the costs of the University of Ghana
Teaching Hospital and the RidgeHospital.
“Egypt is constructing a
1,800 Megawatt gas power plant at a cost of $1.3 billion. Abu Dhabi is
constructing a 1,600 Megawatt gas power plant at a cost of $1.5 billion.
Together, Ameri and Karpower will cost Ghana over $2 billion over five years,
and yet will give us 505 Megawatts.
The University of Ghana has
acquired a loan facility of US$217m from the Israeli Government to build a
600-bed teaching hospital at Legon. The cost of building a new 600-bed teaching
hospital by the University of Ghana is $30m less than the cost of renovating and
expanding Ridge Hospital from 200-bed to 420,” he said.
Since the
lecture however, all the NDC has done on this important issue which goes to
confirm the widely held perception by many persons, including founder of the
NDC, Jerry John Rawlings, that this government is the most corrupt government in
the history of Ghana, is to claim that Dr. Bawumia should have compared the
details of the facilities. However, this attempt has generally fallen flat as
they have been unable to explain for example, how a renovated Regional Hospital
(the Rigde Hospital) can have more facilities than a Teaching Hospital (the
University of Ghana Teaching Hospital). |
Okudzeto Response
Vanishes
In attempt to respond to the issue on Friday,
particularly regarding the issue of the two identical Lecturer’s bungalows in
Dambai, one built by the NPP at GHC195,000 in 2007 and another built by the NDC
for GHC900,000 in 2011, the Deputy Education Minister repeated the worn out
cliché that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia lied.
However when challenged to put out
the truth, the Minister could not disclose what the truth was and rather
promised that the National Council for Tertiary Education was going to come out
with a statement on Friday on the issue – 100 hours after that promise has
however passed without a single statement or rebuttal in any form from the
Council as was promised.
There were indications that the government was
trying to reduce the cost of the project to make a bold claim that the NPP
Running Mate had lied, but has had to back down on the attempts as the records
on the two projects are traceable. |
