Investigative Journalist, Manasseh Awuni Azure, in a recent post has claimed that Ghana is not broke as is being reported. The journalist in his post tried to question why Government would spend hundred million of Ghana cedis to fetch sand and waste materials from the Odaw drains which is not a permanent solution to the flooding issues in Ghana.
Manasseh believes this is an investment which the government could have done without having to spend that huge sum of money. The journalist made reference to how former President Mahama leveraged on his brother’s skill and capacity to do the same job at little cost to the state.
“The perennial fetching of sand and other waste materials from the Odaw isn’t a permanent solution. So why does the government not employ operators to use its equipment to dredge as Ibrahim Mahama did? The cost of maintaining the equipment and paying the operators won’t be GHc100,000,000”, Manasseh wrote.
The Editor of The Fourth Estate questioned that, “Where are the machines and equipment Ibrahim Mahama used to dredge for free? And what processes did the government use to pick Zoomlion’s sister company for this job?”
The current government who were in opposition during former President Mahama’s admnistration attacked the government at the time for why it allowed Ibrahim Mahama to take up such a project with the state’s equipment.
“In 2015, President Mahama’s brother Ibrahim Mahama used the government’s equipment to dredge the Odaw for free. Hell broke loose with all manner of accusations from the opposition NPP”.
Spending such an amount of money on a project which is not sustainable and when Nationals Service Personnel have not been paid for months is one thing the journalist is struggling with.
His post was accompanied with a letter from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department directing the Bank of Ghana to pay an amount of One Hundred Million Ghana Cedis(100,000,000.00) to Dredge Masters Limited.
