Mahama awarded inflated contracts worth GH₵ 5.7 billion - Akufo-Addo

The President Akufo-Addo has disclosed that the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration bequeathed to the current government inflated contracts to the tune of 5.7 billion Ghana cedis which have since been cancelled.

According to him so many of the contracts awarded under former President John Mahama's leadership were inflated which resulted in eight billion cedis in arrears being bequeathed to his administration.

Akufo-Addo at today's Meet The Press session in Accra said the government is currently resisting the temptation to award contracts when it does not have the funds to finance such projects.

He said: "We are resisting the temptation to award contracts when funds are not available to pay for the certificates as they come up.

"Those who conduct business with the government will find out that things are being done differently. We've had to subject eight billion cedis of arrears bequeathed to us at the beginning of 2017 to a process of audit review and validation.

"The audit service has certified payments to the tune of 5.5 billion cedis and rejected about 5.7 billion cedis, representing a potential savings of 51% of these outstanding commitments.

"This shows the validity of our criticism that so much of contracts awarded in the Mahama era were inflated and are currently in some cases non-existent".

He, however, vowed that his bid to protect the public purse will not negatively affect businesses with legitimate contracts with the state who will be paid.

"I have promised to protect the public purse and I am doing just that. Those who have done honest work in an honest way for the government will get paid and paid on time so that their profits don't get swollen up in bank interest and thereby threaten the collapse of their businesses".