The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has decried the absence of transparency in the handling of government contracts by the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC). Communications Director of NPP, Nana Akomea, says the rate of corruption in the country is surging because of the opaque nature contracts are handed down to party faithful. “Government’s handling of contracts flies in the face of President Mahama’s own pronouncement and flies in the face of NDC’s own constitution and the face of the nation’s constitution,” he told Joynews’ Favour Nunoo in reaction to recent Supreme Court (SC)’s order to the government. The SC on July 28 ordered the government to produce its agreement with its counterpart in the United States of America over the relocation of two Guantanamo Bay detainees to Ghana.
This was in a case brought against the Attorney-General and the Interior Minister by two private citizens, Margaret Bamful and Henry Nana Boakye in which the duo is accusing the Ghanaian President of having engaged in an illegality. They are praying the court to make a “declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, that President of the Republic of Ghana acted unconstitutionally by agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby into Ghana.” The relocation of the two to Ghana generated heated debate in Ghana with both the NDC and the NPP trading blames to each other. Whereas the NDC says it exhausted the due process in securing the agreement, the NPP believes otherwise.
Hailing the court for its decision, Nana Akomea says the order for government to produce its agreement with its US counterpart is a testament to government’s non-transparent nature. “The courts of Ghana ordered the government to release whatever agreement it has with the American government on the relocation of the two Guantanamo detainees. So clear case of non-consultation, non-transparency, and non-accountability,” he said. He also cited the recent bus branding scandal in which government awarded the re-branding of 116 Metro Mass buses to a wholly-owned Ghanaian company, Smarttys Production Management. It was later found out that the $3.1 million contract had been inflated by the company.
Agitations and law suit by a pressure group, OccupyGhana, compelled the government to demand a refund of $1.5 million According to him, the scandal among other underhand dealings of the government has buoyed functionaries to continue to stealing from the country.
Source: Myjoyonline
