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Former Minister of Public Works and Housing ET Mensah has denied claims that Saglemi’s controversial $ 200 million housing project is to be executed in phases.
The member of the Council of State told Paul Adom-Otchere on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana program, based in Accra, on Tuesday August 3, 2021: “I was not involved in any phasing system”.
“We knew we wanted to build – that is 5,000 houses to be built for the workers – and that was approved,” he said.
According to him, “executive approval was given and parliament approved it, so if anything, if I wanted to change something, I had to start the same process over again.”
Recently, former Housing Minister Collins Dauda was accused of causing financial losses to the state in connection with the Saglemi housing project.
The opposition politician is accused of having intentionally misapplied the project sum of $ 200 million “by causing the said amount, which had been approved by the Parliament of Ghana for the construction of 5,000 housing units , be applied to the payment of 1,412 housing units under the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.
Last year, Mr. Dauda’s successor, Mr. Samuel Atta Akyea, revealed that all former officials and officials involved in the Saglemi housing project were under investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service.
Mr Atta Akyea, who described the project as a scam, noted that it fell short of the cost supposedly invested in it.
Mr. Atta Akyea revealed it during an interview with the parliamentary press on Thursday, October 8, 2020.
He also condemned the habit of new governments to halt projects launched by previous administrations.
“When it comes to Kufuor’s unfinished housing structures, the evidence is clear that the Mills government and the Mahama government did not sue him. Then I was faced with this jejune argument that we ditched Saglemi. I say: “no, we have not abandoned Saglemi,” said the minister.
Mr. Atta Akyea further noted that the administration led by Mahama had scammed the country in carrying out the project.
He said: “Saglemi is tainted with embezzlement”.
“There is no doubt about it, and I could tell you that the Ghana Institution of Surveyors issued a conclusive report that Saglemi is a scam and the amount of money that was blown from Saglemi exceeds 100 million. of dollars. and the housing structures there are not up to the money they have raised, ”he said.
“So I’m not here to embarrass anyone; I’m here to say that if you haven’t addressed the legalities, how do you continue? So now that we have handed over the report from the Ghana Institute of Surveyors to CID, we can now settle the matter to continue, ”he added.
Mr. Atta Akyea noted at the time that: “We are making a lot of efforts to resolve the Saglemi problem; it is not abandoned. It doesn’t give this nation any credit.
“They invited several, including the Honorable Collins Dauda. They invited them, but you see how civilian nuclear power plants are; we don’t do it like a drama, so the police deal with them. We’re not going to scroll people like, “Look how they arrested this man or they arrested this man.”
“This is how civility is. You are not trying to embarrass someone because you think they have been the subject of a police investigation. Finally, the police could say that they have nothing against the person and you would embarrass them ”.
“So all these people who were involved in Saglemi, they started inviting them. I tell you and the people working in my ministry, they have started to invite them. So the investigations are underway, let the police do their job. There is no propaganda or bias on theft, theft is theft, ”added the Minister.
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