Publish the verification report of value if you have one – the minority insists

General News of Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-04-10

The minority does not believe that the government has conducted a value-for-money audit under the Sinohydro agreement, amounting to $ 2 billion, insisting that one report on this subject be published if this has been done.

The Sinohydro Agreement, an agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Chinese group Sinohydro Group Limited, will provide the infrastructure that the government will choose in exchange for Ghana's refined bauxite.

Some projects include the construction of roads, bridges, interchanges, hospitals, social housing, among other projects.

On Tuesday, the minority called on the government to suspend the commissioning of the project and provide a legal opinion of the Attorney General as well as an audit of resource optimization.

But the request has been ignored. The project was commissioned by the president, in the northern regional capital, Tamale.

Information Minister Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah rejected the minority's demand, calling it an incredible and a lie.

S addressing reporters at a press conference, he said: "Value for money is not a prerequisite for Parliament's approval; it has never been the case. According to the Parliament, financial conditions and technical specifications are also made available to the sectoral committee.

"Sometimes Parliament says to go ahead but shares with us the optimization of resources when that is done. The Ghana Institute of Surveyors has produced a value-for-money audit report that outlines the various potential risk areas and specifies their characteristics, "he added.

In his response to the minority, Mr. Oppong-Nkrumah added that it was not common for the Attorney General to provide written notice to Parliament whenever he was considering concluding such an agreement. .

The minister expressed his surprise to the Parliament's Roads and Transportation Committee for not asking the government for the document.

He stated: "If the Committee did need it, I would expect that they have asked the Attorney General to make this opinion available."

Kwame Agbodza, spokesperson for the minority in the Committee, said that if the documents were available, the government should publish them.

"It's a desperate attempt by the government to scramble the tracks by saying 'we have it'. Let them all publish and tell us who was the main consultant. "

According to him, the government stated that it did not have the documents when the committee asked for it before the agreement was pbaded by Parliament.