The President indicated that significant savings have been made following a review of previous contracts that were suspected to have been inflated.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ucqcPNlCSNmKCoewOT2bmlkBdymPQDoI”]President Akufo-Addo, during his media encounter on Wednesday, said his government had saved some GHc5.7 billion from road contracts that were awarded under the Mahama administration.

“We are resisting the temptation to award contracts when funds are not available to pay for the certificates as they come up. Those who conduct business with the government will find that things are being done differently. We’ve had to subject Ghc8billion cedis of arrears bequeathed to us at the beginning of 2017, to a process of audit review and validation. The Audit Service has certified payments of Ghc5.5billion, and rejected about Ghc5.7billion, representing a potential savings of 51% on these outstanding commitments,” the President said.

The President said this confirms their long held assertion that the Mahama administration inflated contracts and allowed corruption to thrive.

“This shows the validity of our criticism, that so much of contracts awarded in the Mahama era were inflated and apparently in some cases non-existent. I have promised to protect the public purse and I am doing just that. Those who have done honest work and have honest rates for the government will get paid and paid on time, so their profits do not get swallowed up in bank interest and thereby threatening the collapse of their businesses” the President stated.

But the Minority Spokesperson on Roads and Transport, Kwame Agbodza, said he doubts the President’s claims, considering that he did not provide any details or evidence to back them.

Speaking to Citi News, the Adaklu MP said the Akufo-Addo government should “come up with evidence… I find this continuous statement very unfortunate and of course, some of them are total lies. They are not true.”

“I thought the media would have pushed for him to just cite one example immediately so that it will bring some kind of clarity to the situation,” the MP added.

GHc 782 million saved from sole-sourcing

Mr. Agbodza also responded to the revelation that the Akufo-Addo administration saved about GHc 782 million from sole sourcing and restricted tendering processes within its first year in government.

He said it was erroneous for the government to tie reduced sole-sourced contracts, which dropped by 37 percent, to the savings made, although the President did not categorically link the two.

“I can say for a fact that just by having less sole-sourced contracts doesn’t mean that you have saved any money. In any case, he added the difference between 2016 and 2017 sole source contracts, and considered it as savings. Anybody who knows anything about procurement knows that is completely untrue.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Provide evidence for ‘inflated’ Mahama contracts – Agbodza appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking on Eyewitness News after government had stopped the unapproved payment, Mr. Agbodza said the Transport Ministry must immediately set up a committee to probe the matter and punish those who took that decision.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Ya5j1V865MK1DCuZ9PTnCtyTMmkPXQv0″]“Who actually at the DVLA decided that in the name of this country called Ghana, drivers should be charged GHc 108 for First Aid Kits? The Ministry [should] quickly set up a committee, identify this individual or individuals, sanction them appropriately and give refunds to those whose refunds have been taken illegally.”

“Ghanaians are not going to take this apology and go home and say that is the end of it. I am not satisfied on that front. I am only satisfied that the Minister and his colleagues took that decision by listening to Ghanaians and saying that the charge was illegal,” the MP said.

Mr. Agbodza’s call came after the Deputy Minister of Transport, Titus Glover, said his outfit was not aware of the charges, and added the DVLA needed to have engaged its stakeholders properly before introducing the policy.

Titus Glover also said drivers who had been charged could have their monies refunded.

But Mr. Agbodza insisted that, a number of key questions remained unanswered hence the call for a probe.

“If the board is not aware and the Ministry is not aware, when the money is paid, is it paid to an individual? Is it paid to the DVLA account… is the board saying that they wake up to get GHc 100,000 in their account and they are not going to ask; how did this money come into our accounts? There is a lot we need to find out.”

According to him, the Transport Ministry also needed to be very concerned with the development.

“The Minister and the board need to be very scared of the possibility of some employees of government at DVLA capable of taking this kind of decision that is so sweeping to take money from the people of Ghana,” the MP stated.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Probe DVLA over First Aid kit charges – MP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the decision by the COCOBOD boss will cost Ghana more money.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ub3KtWaQqYp9ciUKq0HWYg7KFhVTpPh5″]Speaking on Eyewitness News on Monday, Mr. Agbodza said most of the roads were developing into very terrible state due to the decision to halt all construction works on them.

“The Chief Executive of COCOBOD has unilaterally stopped all cocoa roads and these roads are getting deteriorated and I can bet you, we will pay more for all those roads because some of these roads have been left for 7 months and they have deteriorated, and when they come back to the road they would have to fix that before they go on, meaning we will pay more…. Perhaps the Chief Executive of COCOBOD would have to be cited one day for willfully causing financial loss to the state,” he said.

The Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo in July 2017 announced the decision to halt construction when the Board and management of the company paid a courtesy call on the Okyehene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panyin.

He said the decision was to allow the company conduct a full audit into all road contracts to ensure that it does not strain its finances. He noted that the previous government had entered into various road contracts of values far above the company’s financial capacity.

“We are just suspending the project to make way for a comprehensive audit which will give us a clearer picture because we need to protect the public purse especially money coming from the sweat of modest cocoa farmers,” he said.

The Cocoa Roads Project aims at improving road networks in cocoa communities with the view to ensuring access to remote cocoa areas as well as creating a congenial environment to promote the livelihoods of cocoa farmers.

Among other things, it is to solve the challenges associated with carting cocoa beans from the farm gates to buying centers and also to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Abandoned cocoa road projects to cost Ghana more – Adaklu MP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.