The Minority on the Defence and Interior Committee has rejected claims that the contractor working on the Afari Military Hospital is owed $85 million, stating that the true amount owed the contractor is only $500,000.
Deputy Ranking, Kofi Amankwa-Manu, says the 85 million-dollar claim by the Deputy Defence Minister, Brogya Genfi, is only an attempt to abuse public purse, vowing the Minority’s readiness to block any such payment.
Addressing the press in Parliament on Tuesday, June 16, he noted that government must ensure that the remaining 2% of the project is completed.
“The Deputy Minister’s assertion that the contractor, EDI is demanding $85 million before returning to site is a manufactured crisis. Let the records be clear no records at the Ministry of Finance supports this outrageous claim,” he stated.
According to the Minority, the financial facts surrounding the project are; the full payment of original contract sum of $180 million, which was a loan.
The negotiated additional funding of $19.3 million that is from the GoG for delays has been fully paid.
Out of the subsequent $3 million claim negotiated down from over $6.5 million, $2.5 million has been paid.
“The only outstanding amount owed to the contractor is $500, 000,” the Minority indicated.
The Minority vowed to prevent the payment of what they say is an “unjustified and outrageous” $85 million owed the contractor.
“Any attempt to use the backdoor to pay this newly generated unjustified amount of $85 million can only be described by the popular Ghanaian cliché ‘create, loot and share.’ We will fiercely resist this scheme. We demand value for money and we will protect the public purse,” he remarked.
They urged the Government to immediately abandon the “fraudulent $85 million claim, pay the outstanding $500,000 and ensure the contractor completes the remaining 2% of the project for use by the Ghanaian people.”
