Buem Member of Parliament, Kofi Adams, has revealed a concerning lack of transparency regarding the utilization of a $200 million loan allocated for the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) project.
According to Mr Adams, the government could only provide an account for $42 million of the total loan amount.
This revelation prompted the Minority to stage a walkout during the approval of an additional $150 million for the GARID project.
Mr Adams emphasised that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs cannot condone what they perceive as state plunder by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
In an interview with Citi FM on Saturday, May 18, Mr. Adams reiterated the Minority’s stance, stating that without proper accountability from the government regarding the GARID project funds, they would not support any further loan approvals for the project.
“We thought you had taken $200 million but nothing has come out of it and you took a portion of it, claiming that per the arrangements that you had with the World Bank, you could use some part of that facility to support COVID-19 and COVID-19 funds too, but you have not accounted for them.
“We don’t even know how the $65 million of the original GARID funding of $200 million was spent, whether it was spent properly or not. For the remaining $135 million, they could only account for about $42 million, and so the rest of the money is unaccounted for.”
Kofi Adams further alleged instances of irregularities in the GARID project, claiming that some contractors were paid despite no work being done.
Additionally, he asserted that in certain cases, only between 18 percent and 20 percent of the contracted work was partially executed.
“Contractors who have been given mobilization—some $2 million—you call them, and they say they don’t even know the site but took the money. The government gave them the money. Others who took the money have also done some 18 percent or 20 percent of the work.”
“Three out of the nine contractors have done lower percentages, and no proper work has been done as far as the $200 million is concerned, and then you are asking for more.