Are we fetching water with a basket? Tears from Saglemi!
Almost all governments we have had since independence have been initiating policies and programmes towards the provision of affordable houses for Ghanaian workers.
The delivery of such initiatives has been a mirage.
Except for General Kutu Acheampong’s government, which ensured that all the initiatives towards the provision of affordable houses – also known as low-cost houses ‒ were completed, the provision of affordable housing projects in Ghana has become a conduit for the misuse of public funds.
The Saglemi Affordable Housing Project initiated by the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2012 is a case in point, started with a $200 million loan facility from Credit Suisse, an investment bank, based in Switzerland, to put up 5,000 units of residential housing at Seglemi for low-income earners.
The project, on 300 acres of land offered by the Ningo traditional authority, is located along the Dawhenya/Sege/Aflao road or Tema/Aflao road in the Ningo Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region.
On completion of the 5,000 affordable units, one unit was supposed to cost not more than $40,000. I
When the NDC government lost power in the 2016 elections and handed over to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government on January 7, 2017, only 1,413 units were about 80 per cent complete. Meanwhile, $198 million out of the $200 million loan facility had been spent, with one uncompleted unit having absorbed a whopping $140,127.
That is against a fully completed unit of $57,000 by some private developers.
When the NPP government took power and realised that the funds for the project had not been applied prudently, legal action was initiated to correct the wrongs associated with it.
Sadly, for the eight good years that it was in power, the legal process bore no results or was a single block added to the project.
Just before the NPP lost power in 2024, the then Works and Housing Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, visited the abandoned project and assured Ghanaians of a private developer taking over.
He added that additional funds to complete the project and connect utilities could further raise the cost of one unit to $176,000. How can a low-income earner invest in such a project?
Due to the high level of impunity in our governance architecture, the lapses with the Saglemi project are gradually slipping off our memories, as our political leaders continue to play the ostrich.
I wonder, “Why won’t Ghanaians cry for development when our resources managers deliberately continue to fetch water with a basket?”.
Until Ghanaians are united in anger against the waste of public funds and lack of accountability, they will always be taken for granted.
Kwame Amoah,
Fmr. Gt. Accra Reg. Director, EC/
President, Global Election Gurus (GEG).
E-mail: kwmoah@yahoo.com
