Government has denied media reports that it has signed a contract with Ghanaian company Smartty\u2019s Production for the execution of a national electrification project.<\/p>\n
The minority in Parliament had prior to this denial alleged that\u00a0Smarttys, which is a local representatives for the Chinese Contractors, may have been responsible for overpricing the deal by about $9 million, considering their past record.<\/p>\n
Smarttys is named as the local representatives of the Chinese company, China Hunan Construction Engineering Group which\u00a0would be\u00a0undertaking the project.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”yD7sMsp36iEU6O1mfDPpT1sGjGXLxDjX”]For their involvement in the overpriced bus branding saga, many have questioned the appropriateness of government sitting aloof and allowing them to be associated with such a huge contract worth $92m.<\/p>\n
But speaking to Citi News<\/strong>, Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor, noted that government is not dealing with Smarrtys as a contractor in this project but only as a\u00a0local representative of the Chinese Company.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government of Ghana has no contract with Smayttys. Unlike the earlier deal about the branding, the government of Ghana has no contract with Smarttys. The government of Ghana has a contract with Hunan construction and Hunan construction is at liberty to engage any other local counterpart, whether for PR purposes or any other purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n He argued that the most important thing is that government has to ensure that there was value for money and also \u201censure that the contract fits within our overall objective as a nation and also ensure that the taxpayer\u2019s money is not shortchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n Why the apprehension<\/strong><\/p>\n Smarttys bus re-branding saga – Late last year, an official investigation into a major bus branding scandal found that Ghanaian firm Smarttys overbilled the state by more than Ghc1.5\u00a0million in a Ghc3.6 million contract to re-brand 116 Metro Mass Transit buses.<\/p>\n Under intense public pressure, the Presidency ordered the company to cough up the excess funds it unjustly took from the state.<\/p>\n Officials say although some initial refund has been made, Smarttys still owes the state more than one million cedis.<\/p>\n Smarttys is owned by Ghanaian actress and TV Host, Selassie Ibrahim.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n