The Minority in Ghana’s Parliament is kicking against the approval of a $100 million dollar Contract
Agreement between the Government of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of National Security and
Huawei Technologies Company Limited for the Accra Metropolitan Area ICT-Enhanced Traffic
Management Project.
The loan for the establishment of the project, which is to set up a control room for the regulation of
traffic into the main city of Accra, is being sourced from the China National Technical Import and Export
Corporation.
According to the Minority, the project for which the Akufo-Addo led Government is seeking approval has
already been given Parliamentary approval as far back as December 2018 albeit under a different title
and a different Ministry.
Addressing the Parliamentary Press in Parliament on Friday, November 6, 2020, Members of the
opposition National Democratic Congress in Parliament observed that they were taken aback when
Government presented another agreement on the same project for another approval.
Whereas the old Contract Agreement was sponsored in Parliament by the Ministry of Roads and
Highways, the new Agreement is being sponsored by the Ministry of National Security with a new
contractor, Huawei.
The Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, indicated that the contractor who was
named in the previous contract already approved by Parliament under the Ministry of Roads and
Highways, has raised a certificate for work already done to the tune of $16 million dollars pending
payment.
“The title of the report is a grand deception. A very big deception. This facility, came before Parliament
on the 22 nd Day of December 2018. The loan for the facility was approved by Parliament on that day. The
facility and the approval named the contractor who was to execute the project…The loan for the project
has already been procured and approved by Parliament. The contractor has been selected and the sod
cutting for the implementation of the project was done on the 21 st day of February, 2019.
“As we speak to you, the contractor has executed part of the project and raised interim certificates
totaling 16 million dollars waiting to be paid…today we are being invited to approve of the same facility
that has been approved and which is standing in our loan books for the same project. In order to
deceive Ghanaians, they have changed the title of the project… Even if we allow then to go ahead, you
can be rest assured that what they are going to do will be a candidate for judgement debt,” he said.
Information gathered from Government sources with regard to this issue indicated that, the contract
with the previous contractor had to be cancelled because they were found to be allegedly involved in
some criminal activities back in their home country.
However, the Minority group dismissed the excuse and further alleged that it was rather a raging turf
war between invested parties at the Flagstaff House over the 100 million Dollar contract that is
responsible for the change in the contractor and the sponsoring Ministry.
The Member of Parliament for Adaklu, Governs Kwame Agbodza warned of the negative spillover effect
of Government’s decision to cancel the contract which is being executed. He emphasized that it had
legal and financial implications for the country in the future, while he questioned the rationale for the
involvement of National Security in the project.
“What has the synchronization of traffic in Accra got to do with National Security? Indeed, when they
came to Parliament, they told us they were going to build a control room. And that control room,
National Security, MTTD and everybody have access to that control room. So, there is question as to
whether National Security can have access to that control room.
“We have no interest in the turf war at the flagstaff House. As Parliament, we must be sure that when
we are approving loans, we are doing the right thing. We feel currently, like my colleague said, if we
approve this agreement, we may be setting the country up for judgement debt sooner or later because
we have seen letters from the current developer threatening legal action already,” he said.
The report of the Committee on Defense and Interior was laid before the House on Friday, November 6,
2020, seeking the approval for a Contract Agreement for the Accra Metropolitan Area ICT-Enhanced
Traffic Management Project for an amount of One Hundred Million United States Dollars.
The Agreement is among the Government of the Republic of Ghana represented by the Ministry of
National Security, Huawei Technologies Company Limited and the China National Technical Import and
Export Corporation.
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com