NDC must pay cost of branding MMT buses since it advertises Mahama - NPP
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has asked the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to pay the GhȻ 3.6 million spent on the branding of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses.
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According to the NPP, the branding was done to project President John Dramani Mahama ahead of the upcoming elections.
The party has also called on the Chief of Staff, Mr Julius Debrah, to publish the full report of the Attorney-General on the branding of the buses.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, the Communication Director of NPP, Nana Akomea, said the decision to brand the 116 MMT buses was meant to advertise President Mahama as the preferred choice to Ghanaians.
“The entire bus rebranding project is a plot by the NDC government not only to dupe the nation, but also use the taxpayers’ money to project President Mahama’s image in the build up to this year’s elections,” he said.
Background
There was massive public outcry in the latter part of 2015 when there were reports that the Ministry of Transport had spent GhȻ3.6 million on the branding of the buses.
Smarttys Productions, the company which was contracted to undertake the branding of the buses was chastised by Ghanaians and some industry experts for charging an overboard amount.
The situation led to the resignation of Mrs Dzifa Attivor as the Minister of Transport, whiles the Chief of Staff, Mr Julius Debrah, ordered an investigation into the matter.
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The Management of Smarttys, led by its owner, Ms Selassie Ibrahim, was initially asked to refund GhȻ1.9 million of the GHc 3.6 million paid by the state. Later the amount Smartty's was to refund was reduced to GhȻ1.5million.
Corruption under NDC deepens
Nana Akomea said the amount spent on the branding the buses was a clear indication that corruption under President Mahama had deepened.
“The bus rebranding saga is one of the many wrong deals the NDC government had executed through its cronies. How can a developing nation like Ghana spend a whopping GhȻ3.6 million tax payers money to rebrand buses?,” he asked.
Nana Akomea said the branding of the buses could have been given to the advertising agencies which would have generated more income for the nation.
“Now not only has the nation lost that amount through the NDC government but Ghanaians have also lost monies that could have been generated if the rebranding had been given to an advertising firm,” he added.
Nana Akomea said if Ghanaians continued to allow the NDC government to continue in power, corruption which “is already sinking the nation will swallow everyone”.