The member of parliament for North Tongu Hon. Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa has revealed that a colossal amount of 2 million dollars was spent by the Akufo Addo government on a wishful thought to build sky train in Ghana which never saw the light of day. He said the Auditor General disclosed this as part of the 17.4 billion Ghana Cedis lost to the nation in 2021 alone.
According to Ablakwa, the money was used to make part payment to a contractor who contracted to carry out the project. However, same government made a u-turn and abrogated the contract after it realised that it cannot afford the cost of the project. Ablakwa who sounded furious over the development said parliament will have to do more to tame the Akufo Addo government. He also called on the Special Prosecutor to start processing these people for court because the Attorney General will show no interest in it.
Check what the NDC MP wrote on his Facebook page.
“It is well known that the Akufo-Addo government has made an embarrassing U-Turn from the President’s outlandish promise to deliver a sky train in Accra by August 2020.
What they have refused to tell the Ghanaian people is that they handed out US$2million from the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund under shady circumstances to a Mauritius registered SPV known as Africa Investor Sky Train Consortium Holdings.
According to the Auditor General, Government of Ghana generously gave them the US$2million on 25 February, 2019 as premium for shares when the didn’t have an Aeromovel Technology license, there was no feasibility studies, and there were no cabinet and parliamentary approvals.
Now government is struggling to retrieve our US$2million after the failed project.
Financial loss to the state spearheaded by President Akufo-Addo himself. Interesting days ahead.”
Nana Addo and his team of experts travelled to South Africa in 2019 to sign a contract with the government of South Africa to buil sky trains in Accra. After that, the vice President made a promise to the effect that Ghana was going to have its first sky train in Augus 2020.
But the new NPP government lead by Peter Amewu as Railways Minister in 2021 said after a second thought the government has abandoned the initiative. He said the cost of building one kilometre sky train was the same as building 4 km of asphalt road. He stated that the initiative although was a loudable one, could not be implemented in the foreseeable future.
Some Ghanaians commended the minister for opening up, others accused the government of deception.
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