Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate the procurement of the new headquarters building of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) at Ridge in Accra.
The MP wants the following individuals to be probed over their suspected corruption and corruption-related offenses: BoG Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, and his two deputies; the Board of Directors; the Chief Executive Officer of Messrs. Goldkey Properties Ltd and the project consultants supervising the work.
In his petition dated October 30, Mr Ayariga accused the BoG Governor and his team of failing to justify the increase in price for the projects from USD121,807,8517.94 to USD222,799,760.55 (about 84%) when the scope of work rose by 36 percent.
“In spite of a written request to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana under the Right to Information Act, the Governor and his team have not been able to explain to me how there was a price escalation from USD121,807,8517.94 to USD222,799,760.55 (about 84%) when the scope of work increased from 73,000 square meters to about 107,737 square meters (36.9%).”
He noted that the Bank of Ghana had originally priced the project at USD100,857,924.48 for 73,000sq.m but got the project awarded to Messrs. Goldkey Properties Limited, in the same year, at a contract sum of USD121,807,8517.94.
A subsequent variation in the scope of work of about 36.9% saw a project cost escalation of 84%, which has resulted in the about 107,737 sq.m building project now costing USD222,799,760.55, he said.
According to Mr Ayariga, he wrote to the BoG Governor for an explanation, and received a response in a letter dated 22nd August 2023 and referenced SF/GEN/7/2023/75, to the effect that “he is unable to provide me with the full details of the project design variation which has led to the price escalation for reasons of “National Security”.”
For the Bawku Central MP, “this refusal to explain the price escalation founds my suspicion of corruption in the procurement.”
Mr Ayariga holds the assertion that the Office of Special Prosecutor has jurisdiction to investigate all cases of suspected “corruption and corruption-related offences” by public officers and private persons working with public officials under sections 2(a) and 79 of the Office of Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).
He therefore announced his willingness to testify “to all the facts I have come across in this matter and I believe your office will be able to obtain all the details of the variations of the project design and costing variations to arrive at a conclusion on this matter.”
“I count on you to carry out a thorough investigation of this matter and brief the Ghanaian people appropriately and where necessary to carry out prosecutions,” the petition concluded.