Addressing the media at the Presidential press encounter at the Flagstaff House in Accra, Dr Bawumia complained that the $ 14 million expenditure for the bungalow “is too high” and would hurt the public purse.

The event was to assess the performance of the government after 6 months in office.

Answering a question on the delay in the completion of the building which was being constructed by the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited, he said they would work to ensure the successful completion of the project.

However, he said, “government would not accept the $14 million expenditure and, thus, would undertake a re-negotiation to slash the cost to a reasonable level to protect the public purse.”

Dr Bawumia urged the public to maintain its confidence in government adding that they would remain resolute to use the country’s resources judiciously for development.

He had earlier accused the previous government of inflating the contract figures of the project pegging at a cost of $13.9 million.

He said he could not understand why any government would invest such an amount into such a project at a time that the country was battling with dire economic challenges.

The issue had since remained a controversy between the previous government and the ruling New Patriotic Party.

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Source: GNA

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He said he is shocked by government’s seeming neglect of the project and has challenged it to complete the project.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Bdir2zySuvzyFDLp45RGCqGC9HDfUjuz”]Works at the bungalow at Cantoments has stalled but Mr Sampson Ahi wants it completed  soon.

“…If there are issues, they should raise the issues and address them for it [residence] to be used as duty post of the current Vice President and the subsequent Vice President of our country. If there are issues with it, they should take the necessary steps to rectify it and then continue with the project. If there has been overpayment they know what to do to get the money back and if the contractor has not been paid, they know what to do.”

Gov’t may audit $14m Veep residence contract – Akomea

The bungalow became a subject of controversy after the Vice President revealed, the project is costing the country almost $15 million dollars.

The Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akomea had revealed that government may launch a full scale audit into the building of the residence.

Nana Akomea had stated that he could not understand why the government committed to paying such an amount for the project.

“I think and I believe that is what the government will do. Is for to do a value for money auditing because this is a sole sourced contract and we all know some of the problems associated with sole sourcing.”

He said, “since 1993 we have had a residence for the Vice President of Ghana in which Arkaah, Attah-Mills, Aliu Mahama and John Mahama stayed and it was even fit for him to stay there as President and so the propriety of committing tax payers’ monies to the tune of $14 million to build another residence for the Vice President of Ghana in the light of some of the deprivations of the Ghanaians people are issues that all of us have to interrogate.”

According to Mr Akomea, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government had already paid eight million dollars to the contractor for the execution of the project but the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government led by Nana Akufo-Addo believes the contract terms are outrageous.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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