The Minority Caucus in Parliament has slammed the government for paying $2 million to a firm in Mauritius, Africa Investor Holdings Limited, for the Accra Sky Train Project without parliamentary and the requisite public procurement approvals.
Addressing journalists, the Caucus claimed that the current administration invested over $20 million in equity in the Accra City Pullman Hotel project, despite the fact that no work has been done on-site for nearly two years.
The Minority Chief Whip, Governs Agbodza, who addressed the press conference said, “Before the company even started feasibility studies, someone in government had decided to pay $2 million to this entity and somewhere this year, Joe Ghartey said he has never said the government was going to fund the sky train project, and I am not sure he was reading what he had written because what was the $2 million meant for?”
“The Auditor General report said the company didn’t have the license to operate the system that it wanted to operate and so the question is what was the reason for the government to give the company the money and who gave the directive for the payment?”
“It was wrong to take any decision to pay that money and so who authorized the payment in terms of the so-called feasibility and which normal entity pays out $2 million for a feasibility study before the project is determined whether it is bankable and so these things only happen when there is organized crime. When people are careless and reckless, and I think the minimum the Auditor General can do is to call for a refund,” Mr Agbodza said.
Background
In 2022, the Auditor General disclosed in its report that an amount of US$2 million as a premium to acquire ordinary shares for the development of the Accra Sky Train Project has been reported as a net liability.
This is contained in a report on the Public Accounts of Ghana’s Public Boards, corporations, and other Statutory Institutions for the period ended December 31, 2021.
In the report, it emerged that Africa Investor Holdings Limited incorporated a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in Mauritius for the purposes of establishing Ghana Sky Train Limited to develop the Accra Sky Train Project through a concession on Design, Build, finance, and Operate arrangements.
According to the Auditor General’s report, the Government of Ghana, through the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund, paid US$2 million to Africa Investor Holdings Limited as full consideration for 10 ordinary shares at US$1.00 per share in Ai Sky Train Consortium Holdings (the SPV).
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
