Pay for government equipment used to dredge Odaw – Minority tells Engineers & Planners
The Minority in Parliament has called on Engineers and Planners (E&P) to pay for the government equipment used to dredge the Odaw drain in Accra.
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Using heavy machinery provided by the Ministry of Local Government in July, E&P - a company owned by the President’s brother, Ibrahim Mahama - dredged the Odaw drain, which had become clogged with refuse following the Accra floods of June 3.
But at a press conference, Thursday, the Minority argued the equipment used by the company to undertake the dredging exercise had been improperly given to them.
According to the Minority Spokesperson on Local government, Kwasi Ameyaw Kyeremeh, the equipment had been procured by government “solely” for distribution to district assemblies to enhance service delivery in those areas.
He said it was, therefore, surprising to learn that the equipment had found their way to E&P on the instruction of the Local Government Ministry.
Describing the development as unacceptable, Mr Kyeremeh called for E&P to immediately pay the full cost of the equipment used, so that new ones could be purchased for the district assemblies.
He said: “Our demand is not for Engineers & Planners to return them [the equipment] because they have been used. I don’t think we wanted to give the assemblies used equipment.
“That is why we are calling on the Ministry to ensure that the E&P pays for the cost of these ones, so that we can import or acquire new equipment for the assembly.
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“Which assembly is going to take these used equipment because there will be deductions in their common funds and what is the guarantee that the equipment will be in safe conditions whilst we are giving them to the assemblies?”
Responding to the Minority’s demand on Accra-based Joy FM, Deputy Local Government Minister, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, described the call for E&P to purchase new equipment as “misplaced”, adding the Minority was "oblivious" of the circumstances that led the Ministry to give the equipment to the earth-moving company.
Portraying E&P’s use of the equipment as a humanitarian gesture, Mr Vanderpuye said, “It was a benevolent work on the call by His Excellency the President and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for patriotic Ghanaians who are touched by events of June 3rd to come forward to assist.”
He said at the time, the Ministry and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) lacked the technical ability to manage the equipment effectively to achieve the results they wanted, prompting the E&P to step in and “do the work for us free”.
The Deputy Minister rejected the Minority’s calls for the E&P to purchase new equipment for the assemblies, stressing that the company had used the machines to work for the AMA, and not itself.
“They gave us free human resource support, “he emphasised.