The Minister for Zongo and Inner City Development, Abubakar Saddique Boniface, has alleged that a 73 million euro loan secured by the Kufuor Administration for the improvement of communities like Old Fadama cannot be traced.
The loan was procured in 2007 and handed over to the John Mills administration after 2009, but 10 years later, Alhaji Saddique says “you can’t trace it [the loan].”
[contextly_sidebar id=”YgMgWxxDuYuvmKNofrazUZjs7f4wrlbq”]”This place as I stand here today, over the last 10 years, should have been a changed place. In 2007, I signed a loan for 73 million euro to change this place and move the whole of this place to Adjen Kotoku,” he said at a Town Hall meeting organized by Gh One Television for residents of Old Fadama in Accra
Alhaji Saddique, who was then the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, said he had invited the leadership of the entire area to his office and also “created a market for the Konkombas to start before we finish Adjin Kotoku, but they politicized it. Today, where are we; One step forward, five steps backward.”
Adjen Kotoku, on the outskirts of Accra in Ga West Municipal District, has long been earmarked for the relocation of the market, and it was secured under the Kufuor administration for their relocation.
The issue of the relocation came up in April 2017, after clashes between Konkombas and Dagombas at the Agbogbloshie Yam Market. It is believed the relocation will ensure stability in the area.
Alhaji Saddique also spoke on the Korle Lagoon Restoration Project initiated under the Kufuor administration, for which he had envisioned the Konkombas gaining employment because the project was taking place in their vicinity, and “the very people who will enjoy the facility must be made to work.”
“…But unfortunately, for the project, nobody knows where it is. I was there last two weeks with the World Bank people and most of the items there have been stolen,” he said.
Alhaji Saddique reminded that, ultimately Ghana was going to suffer because “any government which comes will pay for it [the loan]. Your children and children’s children are those who are going to pay for it” he said.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana