Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has launched a scathing attack on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for allegedly engaging in a ‘shady and wasteful’ project to construct a new corporate head office.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page, the MP said he had intercepted documents from the BoG and other sources that exposed several procurement breaches, cost escalations and lack of transparency in the project.
He claimed that the BoG violated the Public Procurement Act, 2003 as amended in Act 914, by using the restricted tendering method to select five companies to participate in the tender, none of which were registered at the Office of the Registrar of Companies. He said one of the companies, Ronesans Holdings, was not even registered at the time of the tender.
He also claimed that the cost of the project increased astronomically from US$81.8 million to US$121 million within eight months, and was likely to exceed US$250 million. He said this was mind-boggling and unacceptable, especially during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when the BoG claimed to be struggling to finance the government.
He further claimed that the BoG single-sourced another company, MULTICAD, to carry out project management for US$3.45 million, without any compelling reason or justification. He said this was another breach of the procurement law and a sign of cronyism.
He called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to join him in protesting against the BoG project, which he described as extravagant and wasteful. He said Governor Addison and his colleagues at the BoG had been deliberately lawless and destructive, and should resign or be sacked.
He said he had activated his parliamentary oversight role to unravel the mystery behind the project and expose the truth to the public. He said he would not relent in his efforts to ensure accountability and value for money in public spending.
He attached copies of some of the documents he had intercepted from the BoG and PPA to support his claims. He also urged Ghanaians to share his statement widely and demand answers from the BoG.