NDC MP accuses Bawumia of stalling Sinohydro deal audit

General News of Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-04-10

Vice President, Mr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has been accused of preventing technical officials from proposing a value-for-money audit for the Sinohydro agreement.

Kwami Agbodza, a member of the Parliament's Roads and Transport Committee, says Bawumia has hindered the value-for-money processes.

"I select the vice president as one who does not allow the rational use of value for money and he continues to cut grbad. [ceremony]. "

The minority has expressed concerns about the lack of audit of resource optimization and legal advice prior to the approval of the main support agreement. relating to the Sinohydro Agreement.

But the government has insisted that these conditions be fulfilled.

Mr. Agbodza, however, does not think that these requirements are properly met.

"In my interactions with agencies and other things, I noticed that the quality of the documents submitted to Parliament was below average and I do not see how colleagues and professionals from the Ministry would have overseen this level of documentation. . "

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, responded to the claims of the Citi Breakfast Show by stating that there was a verification of value for money and that the deputy "was malicious".

Mr. Agbodza had already complained that the average cost of one kilometer of road under the project had increased from the initial sum of more than one million dollars to about 6 million GHc in because of the decline of the cedi against the dollar.

He also complains that other crucial financial and commercial agreements have been concluded with Parliament, without legal advice or verification of value for money.

Mr Agbodza warned that such shortcomings were hampering Parliament.

"This House can not be considered to approve agreements without the essential ingredients of public procurement," he said.

While the MP expresses his concerns, President Nana Akufo-Addo is expected to put a stop to the construction of the Tamale Interchange project, which will mark the official launch of the $ 2 billion infrastructure project under the umbrella. Sinohydro framework agreement.

Main project support was agreed between Ghana and China in 2017 to address major infrastructure challenges in the country.

As part of the deal, Sinohydro Group Limited of China will supply the infrastructure chosen by the government in exchange for Ghana's refined bauxite.

Ghana will establish a refinery and choose a partner to undertake bauxite refining according to the project.

The agreement will finance other infrastructure such as roads, bridges, interchanges, hospitals, housing, railway development and electrification of rural areas.