A High Court in Accra has discharged former Minister of Works and Housing, Collins Dauda, and the three other people involved in the Saglemi Housing case.
According to a post by broadcaster Serwaa Amihere on X, the former minister and the three other accused were discharged by the court on Tuesday, February 24, 2025.
This was after state prosecutors officially informed the High Court that the Attorney General had dropped charges against the accused persons.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, dropped the case against Alhaji Collins Dauda, a former Minister of Works and Housing, and four others who had been charged with 70 counts of causing financial loss to the state over the Saglemi Affordable Housing project.
Alhaji Collins Dauda, along with Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, a former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing and Alhaji Ziblim Yakubu, Chief Director at the Ministry for Water Resources, Works and Housing, contributed to the Saglemi Housing deal when it was prepared and signed.
Also implicated is businessman, Andrew Clocanas, Executive Chairman of Construtora OAS Ghana Limited (now deceased), and Nouvi Tetteh Angelo, Chief Executive Officer and owner of Ridge Management Solutions Ghana Limited.
The charge sheet, filed on January 24, 2023, included charges of intentionally misapplying public property and causing financial loss to the state in the $200 million Saglemi Housing Project scandal.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, Dr Ayine, while justifying his decision to drop the case, argued that part of that amount was used to construct houses at Saglemi, making the charges flawed.
“In other words, the value of that built environment is, in my considered opinion, a key determinant of how much of the total sum was allegedly misapplied by the Honorable Collins Dauda. Discounting the value of the built environment renders those charges, in my considered opinion, defective,” he stated.
He also noted that subsequent payments made by other ministers after Dauda left office were not considered in the prosecution’s case.
“For instance, Atta Akyea, as Minister of Works and Housing, approved a payment of $5 million in 2017 that ought to have been considered in determining the value of state funds that Collins Dauda had misapplied. But that wasn’t done. And note, ladies and gentlemen of the media, that Atta Akyea was never charged, even though Collins Dauda was,” he pointed out.
Dr Ayine stressed that an accused person is entitled to know precisely the crime they are charged with and the burden they must discharge to prove their innocence. He argued that the charges in some cases failed to meet the legal standard of precision required for a fair trial.
