NPP Govt Spends Over ₵5 Trillion On Job Ibrahim Mahama Was Doing For Ghana Free Of Charge.
The scandal involving the over $1 million Mrs. Cecilia Dapaah stashed in her home which got stolen by her two house-helps has brought to the fore how unnecessary partisanship and tribal bigotry has cost the nation, trillion of cedis. Yes, you read right! Trillions of cedis!
Mrs. Cecilia Dapaah, as Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources told parliament recently that her ministry spent a whopping $43 million to dredge the Korle Lagoon and Odaw River, both in Accra.
At today’s exchange rate of $1: GH¢12, the $43million Mrs Dapaah and her Ministry claims they spent on the dredging of the two water bodies is equivalent to GH¢ 516,000,000 which in old Ghana Cedis, is ¢5,160,000,000,000 (Five trillion, one hundred and sixty billion cedis)!
In essence, Ghana spent the colossal sum of ¢5.16 trillion to dredge the Korle Lagoon and the Odaw river, work that Mr. Ibrahim Mahama was doing for Ghana free of charge eight years ago.
In 2015, Mr. Ibrahim Mahama, a younger brother of His Excellency John Mahama who was President at the time decided to put the expertise of his company FREE OF CHARGE at the disposal of the government and people of Ghana in the matter of the heavily polluted Korle Lagoon and Odaw river.
As a result, he liaised with the Ministry of Local Government which then provided his company, Engineers & Planners (E&P) with available machines for the dredging of the two water bodies.
Without much ado, Ibrahim Mahama got his workers to start the dredging. However, rather than applaud this selfless act, unnecessary partisanship and tribal bigotry saw the Minority in parliament then, the NPP as well as some Ghanaians and a section of the Ghanaians press criticizing him for his act simply because he is a brother of the President. The fact that his company was the only one in the country with the expertise for the kind of dredging that was needed to desilt the two over polluted water bodies which have become a national disgrace did not matter to them. Their actions were reminiscent of how their forbearers went telling the United States of America not to assist Ghana to build the Akosombo Dam!
The Minority at the time, instead of seeing Ibrahim Mahama’s act as a golden opportunity for Ghana to save money which can be used in other spheres of national development, as usual saw it an opportunity to demonize the President to score cheap political points.
Addressing a press conference in Accra, the then Minority Spokesman on Local Government, Hon. Kwasi Ameyaw Cheremeh, questioned why E &P were the ones dredging the two water bodies. The NPP Communication team and the pro-NPP press ran amok, alleging Ibrahim’s selfless act is tantamount to President Mahama practicing “family and friends”. To put an end to the criticisms, Ibrahim Mahama, who had completed 40% of the dredging, stopped the worked, returned the machinery to the government and left.
Eight years on the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led NPP government through the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resource headed by Cecilia Dapaah say they have spent a whopping $43 million, the equivalent of GH¢516,000,000 or ¢5,160,000,000,000 ( Five trillion, one hundred and sixty billion cedis ) on dredging the same water bodies. Simply put, Ghana has spent GH¢516,000,000 or ¢5,160,000,000,000 on a work that will have comparatively cost the nation zero cedis because Ibrahim Mahama was doing it free of charge! And, interestingly, that section of the media, as well as the so-called neutrals who demonized Ibrahim Mahama for his free services, and President Mahama for allowing his brother to come to Ghana’s aid, are keeping a loud silence over the GH¢516,000,000 or ¢5,160,000,000,000 that was wasted on the dredging of the Korle Lagoon and the Odaw River! The two water bodies are today still choked with solid waste!
Source : Daily Post