Some Members of Parliament are incensed over revelations that, a BMW saloon car valued at $160, 503,76 was purchased for the use of former Roads and Highway Minister, Joe Gidisu, by the contractors of the Achimota-Ofankor Highway in Accra, merely to enable him inspect the project.
The project, which is wholly funded by government, was awarded to Messrs China Railway Wuju (Group) Corporation at an estimated cost of GHC 40.4 million, but a report released by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed that, it exceeded its original budget by over 200%, due to expenditure on some programmes unrelated to the project.
[contextly_sidebar id=”H4ICK0UIynyykjB5oEmtCHeRFy4Kp4jx”]”Items considered to be unrelated expenditure; cardinal among them was the purchase of a BMW- 2010 model saloon car at $160.503,76 with an associated one year insurance. Other expenditure deemed to be unrelated to project are head office backstopping (GHC50,000), posting allowances for 13 GHA staff transferred to head office (GHC34,764.73): conversion of GHA’s archive base into offices and renovation of CEO’s office (GHC33,225.62) and participation of four staff in Urban transportation course at KNUST (GHC2,400),” the report stated.
It further revealed that “As at December 2011, the project had exceeded the expected completion date by 25 months and the works were about 88% complete. The estimated cost had already shot up to GHc120 million representing an increase of about 217%. On the purchase of the BMW saloon vehicle, the acting Chief Executive Officer of the GHA explained that the vehicle was bought for the then Minister of Roads and Highways, Joe Gidisu to inspect the project.”
Speaking on the development, the Majority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, on the floor of Parliament called for sanctioning of the officials responsible for the infractions.
“Mr. Speaker, I think this house must send the right signal to all these ministries that we are no longer going to tolerate where you are going to have a project and then you try to build in it your requirements or your other requirements that are not related…These things will no longer be tolerated.”
Joe Gidisu didn’t use the car
The PAC report however noted that upon purchase of the car, the then Minister realized that it was inappropriate for his use, and thus the vehicle was sent to the presidency for an appropriate replacement.
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By: Marian Ansah & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana