Former Minister for Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda
• Mr Eric Opoku is convinced that Collins Dauda acted in accordance with the laws in the Saglemi Housing Project
• He said the only change made to the deal did not require parliamentary approval
• Collins Dauda has been sued for causing financial loss to the state
A spokesperson for the embattled former Minister of Works and Housing under the erstwhile Mahama administration, Eric Opoku has questioned the veracity of allegations made against his colleague in the Saglemi Housing Project.
He has vouched for the integrity of the former Works and Housing Minister, Collins Dauda in the execution of the Saglemi Housing Housing Project in which the former Minister has been accused of causing financial loss to the state.
According to the government, Mr Dauda while serving as the Minister for Works and Housing made substantive changes to the Saglemi Housing deal without due parliamentary notification or approval as required by the laws of the country.
The facts further revealed that Mr Dauda made unapproved payments to companies including VHM Ghana Ltd, Architectural and Engineering Services Limited, Construtuora OAS Ghana Limited. Thus, an amount of $196,428,891.66 was spent on the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project contrary to the amount for the actual cost of work revealed through investigations as $64,982,900.77.
Reacting to these facts of the case, Mr Opoku told Eyewitness News that Collins Dauda did not vary the original agreement as approved by the government but only restated it.
He added that the project was “executed as indicated in the agreement signed by E.T. Mensah.” However, he added that the change to the agreement did not require a parliamentary agreement as it only shifted the project to three phases instead of four.
“…how can anybody say that Collins Dauda varied the decision of Parliament? He only restated the agreement. So, if the contract was varied, it was not varied by Collins Dauda. If he is being called for his stewardship, he has no problem at all, except that he is worried about the fact that the whole matter has been twisted for the sake of propaganda,” he further detailed.
