The outgoing National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will discharge its duties perfectly including awarding last minute contracts if it deems fit until it finally hands over power to the New Patriotic Party in January 2017.
This according to the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mahama Ayariga is because “we are the sitting government until we hand over power on January 6, 2017.”
Mr. Ayariga made the remark on the Point Blank segment on Eyewitness News on Monday in reaction to a wave of bashing he had received for signing a last minute €18 million e-waste contract with SCL Waste Management Limited days after his party’s defeat.
[contextly_sidebar id=”8DsuNiVH5QXI4vVgxVsq79uPJcGtKTbo”]The contract will allow the company to recycle e-waste in the country.
The NDC was defeated in the December 7 polls and President John Dramani Mahama is expected to hand over power to president-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo on January 7, 2016.
Both parties have formed a transition team to ensure a smooth transfer of power, however, the NPP have raised concerns about some new contracts and recruitment being undertaken by the outgoing government.
According to the outgoing Minister, he took the decision because it was duly forwarded to the Public Procurement Authority for approval before his party’s defeat.
“An application was pending before the election and I duly forwarded it to the PPA for approval before the elections,” he said.
He further told host of Eyewitness News’ Richard Dela Sky that his government did no wrong by signing new contracts.
“…This impression that people are saying that because there has been an election won by another party and the Electoral Commission has declared them as winners does not mean that this government should stop functioning all together and there should be a total shut down. That is a very wrong impression. This government will continue to pursue its programmes until 6th of January when we are supposed to fold up and then hand over to the new president who will then appoint his ministers to carry out the functions.”
He explained that “If we exercise some functions and they [NPP] do not agree with us, then they can decide to abolish it when they take over because they have the power to do that. But so far us we are concerned, we are the sitting government until January 6th.”
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By: Godwin A.Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin