Ace Anan Akomah, Selassie Ibrahim
Ace Anan Ankomah, a leading member of OccupyGhana – a political pressure group – has said that the group has strong evidence that all those behind the Smarttys contract for the re-branding of Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses connived to steal the tax payer’s money and need to be prosecuted.
He said after members of the group had gone through the contract agreement which the group obtained through the court, they saw serious anomalies which defy reason; and so the group has prepared a 20-page dossier on the ‘cooked’ contract, recommending for the immediate prosecution of all those caught in the fishy GH¢3.6 million rebranding contract.
“We have prepared a new 20-page dossier and presented it to the Attorney General, copied to the leadership of parliament; and we want the AG to prosecute all of these guys who were part of the conspiracy to steal the tax payer’s .money,” he underscored.
Mr Ankomah, who was speaking on new revelations in the Smarttys contract in Accra on Wednesday, said if the AG does not take any action before the end of the year, they would follow Martin Amidu’s footsteps and fight for Ghanaians for their stolen money to be returned.
He said from officials of the Ministry of Transport, the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to the Smarttys company, all those who played a part in giving the contract to the company must be made to vomit three times the money.
He said after the Ministry of Finance had given the go-ahead to pay for the contract and the Bank of Ghana also defying the laid-down procedure to effect payment, the contract was then sent to the PPA for its blessing for sole-sourcing with very flimsy excuses.
He said the country’s oil money which was supposed to have been used for the development of railway, was used to pay for the contract.
According to Mr Ace Ankomah, it was not surprising that the former Minister of Transport, Dzifa Attivor, who superintended over the whole deal, mounted a campaign platform in the Volta Region and pleaded with the people of the region to vote massively for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) otherwise if the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) wins the election, she will be prosecuted for her role in the Smarttys contract.
“There are sufficient laws to prosecute these nation wreckers but the Attorney General is dragging her feet. They can steal whatever they want to steal but as for this GH¢3.6 million Smarttys money, we OccupyGhana will seriously follow it and get it for Ghanaians,” he pointed out.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr