Government terminates Asongtaba contract
President John Dramani Mahama has directed the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to liaise with the Attorney-General to terminate the two contracts the authority entered into with Asongtaba Cottage Industries.
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The contracts are in respect of a guinea fowl rearing and processing project, and an afforestation and tree-growing project.
A statement from the Presidency signed by Senior Communications Adviser and Presidential Spokesperson, Mr Ben Dotsei Malor, said the directive followed a report on SADA projects submitted by the minister responsible for Development Authorities, Dr Ahmed Mustapha.
No supervision
According to the statement, even though the projects were potentially viable and could have created many jobs in the savannah area, supervision was non-existent.
“SADA had not established the system and mechanisms for the monitoring and supervision of these projects to ensure that the state received value for money,” it said.
The statement also said the President had also requested the SADA Board to consult the Forestry Commission, and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to ensure the proper implementation of the afforestation and tree-growing project on decentralised basis.
Re-strategising SADA projects
Referring to the report submitted to the President by the minister, the statement said, it recognised that “sufficient expertise still existed within the Savannah Research Institute and the University of Development Studies to redesign and implement a strategy that could properly harness the potential of the guinea fowl industry and turn it into a major income earner for the people of the savannah belt.”
The statement said the President had further instructed the SADA Board to immediately strengthen SADA’s systems of accountability, to enable the authority to account for resources channelled to it by the government, aimed at the accelerated development of the Savannah belt.
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Background to investigations
SADA has been in the news since the rot in the system came into the public domain last year.
In focus were the guinea fowl and afforestation projects, where huge public funds were allegedly paid to Asongtaba Cottage Industries, a private company, for no work done.
SADA was initiated by the Prof. Mills-led NDC administration in fulfilment of an electoral promise to bridge the development gap between the three regions in northern Ghana, parts of the Volta and Brong Ahafo regions, and southern Ghana.