National Communications Officer for the biggest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has disclosed that the Mahama-led government will put Mavis Hawa Koomson up for prosecution for willfully causing financial loss to the state if they win the 2020 general elections
According to him, the Minister for Special Development Initiatives, Hawa Koomson is a potential candidate for prosecution in the future for awarding contracts to uncertified contractors who have no expertise in irrigation dam construction, engaging in shoddy works at the expense of the taxpayers’ money.
Speaking on Okay FM’s ‘Ade Akye Abia’ Morning Show, Sammy Gyamfi emphatically warned the sector Minister that there will be agitation from his camp to push for her prosecution for wilfully causing financial loss to the state if she does not refrain from bad practices.
“Hon. Mavis Hawa Koomson is a potential candidate for prosecution in the future. If she does not stop those things she is doing, one day when change of government finally happens, some of us will push for her to be prosecuted for wilfully causing financial loss to the state because the contractors she has handed over the contracts to, some don’t even have certificates from Ghana Irrigation Development Authority. Yet, they are giving them taxpayers’ money to do some substandard dugouts and excavated ponds which some are being washed away because of shoddy works,” he reprimanded.
According to him, his checks at the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority clearly indicates that most of the contractors handling the one-village-one-dam projects are not certified to go into small-scale irrigation dams.
“I am saying that this is simple task for you and your producer to do, after all, Nana Addo says he has passed into law freedom of information, even though the law is not in force, I believe that in good fate, if you want information, you will not struggle to get it. Call Ghana Irrigation Development Authority and ask them that, is a Dam a specialised job which only a certain category of contractors with certificates can build or any contractor can do it?” he told the host Kwame Nkrumah Tikese.
He therefore described that the dams under construction are a ‘waste of state resources’ championed by the Akufo-Addo-led government.
“I am not a prophet of doom but mark my words that there will be no water in the dams during dry season for which the dams are being constructed to help farmers especially in the north,” he predicted.
He however pontificated that the said small-scale irrigation dams are rather excavated ponds and dugouts, thus a real small-scale irrigation dam cannot cost Ghc 256,000 as compared to a similar dam being constructed by JICA in the up north at the cost of Ghs2.4 million each.
Source: peacefmonline.com
