Collins Dauda
The Office of the Attorney General will on November 9, 2023, call its first witness in the trial of former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, who doubles as NDC MP for Asutifi South in the Ahafo Region, and four others involved in the $200 million Saglemi Housing project scandal.
The court yesterday took care of outstanding issues of disclosures and requests made by counsels for the accused persons as it concluded pretrial processes.
Hilda Craig, a Principal State Attorney had told the court that the prosecution has disclosed all documents in their possession and all the documents the defence counsels were asking were already disclosed and they pointed them to where those documents can be found.
She however, told the court that they could not find the emails requested as the Ministries of Works and Housing as well as Finance say they do not have them.
The defence lawyers disagreed with her as Godwin Edudzi Tameklo told the court that not all the documents were disclosed and pointed out for instance that the interim payment certificates they requested for were not provided.
Justice Ernest Owusu-Dapaa, a Court of Appeal judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, in a short ruling indicated that the prosecution said it has disclosed all the documents in its possession and therefore, it cannot provide what they do not have.
He said the prosecution put the accused before the court and it is up to them to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
It was his view that the court determines what constitutes evidence and prosecution is not persecution so the court remains neutral in the trial.
Meanwhile, the court has varied its earlier decision to hear the case every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays until further directed.
The court said it will now hear the case every Thursday and Fridays and an application filed urging the court to vary the Monday to Wednesday hearing was subsequently withdrawn.
Trial
Alhaji Collins Dauda and four others are facing 70 charges of willfully causing financial loss to the state, issuing false certificate contrary to Sections 1 and 2 of the Government Contracts (Protection) Act, 1979, AFRCD 58 and dishonestly causing loss to public property contrary to Section 2 (1) of the Public Protection Act 1977 (SMCD) 140, and intentionally misapplying public property.
The others are Dr. Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, a former Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing; AlhajiZiblim Yakubu, Chief Director at the Ministry for Water Resources, Works and Housing when the Saglemi Housing deal was prepared and signed; businessman Andrew Clocanas, Executive Chairman of Construtora OAS Ghana Limited as well as NouviTetteh Angelo, the Chief Executive Officer and owner of Ridge Management Solutions Ghana Limited, are all on trial.
They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Alhaji Yakubu, per a request, has been granted permission to absent himself from the trial on health grounds and his counsel, Godwin EdudziTamakloe, has been given permission to conduct the case in his absence.
Scandal
The state per the prosecution’s fact sheet pumped about $200 million into the Saglemi Housing project which the Mills/Mahama administration initiated, but the housing units were never completed even though the funds had allegedly been exhausted before Mr. Mahama and his NDC were defeated in the 2016 general election and left office in early January 2017.
The initial agreement ratified by Parliament was for the construction of 5,000 housing units, but by the time the project was being executed, only 1,502 housing units had been earmarked for construction without recourse to Parliament.
Interestingly, the contract amount of $200 million was spent when even the 1,502 housing units could not fully be completed.
Only 668 were reportedly done, according to investigations compiled and sent to the Attorney General’s Department, and those are not even habitable.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak