Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, has filed a complaint with the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to examine the procurement of the Bank of Ghana (BoG)’s new headquarters building, which is now under construction at Ridge in Accra.
In a letter to the OSP, the lawyer and politician claimed that the procurement process was infected with corruption and that the project’s price had risen from $121.8 million to $222.7 million (approximately 84%) without a matching increase in the scope of work.
According to him, he had requested information on the project from the Governor of the BoG under the Right to Information Act, but that the Governor had refused to disclose details surrounding the new headquarters building with an excuse of national security.
He further disclosed that he was prepared to testify to all the facts he had come across in the matter.
“I am ready to testify to all the facts I have come across in this matter and I believe your office will be able to obtain all the details of the variations of the project design and costing variations to arrive at a conclusion on the matter.”
“When I wrote to the Governor for an explanation, he responded to me in a letter dated 22nd August 2023 and referenced SFGEN702375, to the effect that he is unable to provide me with full details of the project design variation which has led to the price escalation for the reasons of “National Security,” he stated.
He named the Governor and Deputy Governors of the BoG as subjects of investigation, namely Dr Ernest Addison (Governor), Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari (1st Deputy Governor), and Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi (2nd Deputy Governor).
He also wants Board of Directors members to be probed.
He also mentioned the Chief Executive Officer of Messrs; Goldkey Properties Ltd, the contractors and project consultants in charge of overseeing the work.
Read the full petition below
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
