The Minister of Functions and Housing, Mr. Samuel Atta Akyea, has actually exposed that previous ministers who contributed in the stalled US$ 200 million Saglmei Housing project will face prosecution.
The Saglemi Housing Project is near completion but was stalled for the past 3 years the government probed allegations of violations regarding its execution.
Reacting to concerns in Parliament on Thursday, 4 June 2020, Mr Atta Akyea provided the assurance of both civil and criminal actions will be pursued in the matter.
“A strong position in law that all the contracts purportedly signed by Hon. Collins Dauda and thereafter some wayward Chief Directors after the original project had received parliamentary approval have no legal consequence”, Mr Atta Akyea told the house, adding: “At the moment, the Ghana Institution of Surveyors is engaged in a value-for-money audit.”
“Their findings will indicate the extent of embezzlement of state resources via the vehicle of affordable housing delivery. All the traducers of the law will be arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction to answer criminal charges.
“Civil actions shall be used to recover money lost to the state. The audit will also project how much required to complete the 5,000 units with the full amenities. The Akufo-Addo government pledges to complete the botched Mahama Saglemi Housing project”, he said.
The 5,000-unit project was started by the Mahama administration in 2012.
Reacting to the development in an interview with Accra100.5FM’s parliamentary correspondent Richard Appiah Srapong, a former Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Mr Sampson Ahi, said “if the contract was signed properly, why did they also come to continue the project”.
“We do not think this contract was awarded dubiously, so, we are not afraid of this investigations,” he said.
