-Asiedu Nketiah
Posted: Daily Guide | Saturday, 19 February 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Barely 24 hours after coming under severe criticism for an alleged conflict of interest in the ongoing Bui Hydro Power construction project, General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu-Nketia also called General Mosquito, has gone on the defensive, trying to justify his role and that of his block manufacturing company.
Asiedu-Nketia said if his company was supplying blocks to the Bui Dam Project, and some Ghanaians did not understand why, they should crucify him. The NDC chief scribe’s conflict of interest situation had generated a furore, with people accusing him of abusing his position.
This was after the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bui Power Authority (BPA) and First Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Fred Oware, exposed how a block manufacturing company owned by the NDC General Secretary had been awarded a contract to supply blocks for the entire resettlement project of the BPA, though he was and continued to serve on the company’s Board.
General Mosquito had earlier threatened to expose former President Kufuor for allegedly failing to implement the hydro power project and particularly in the funding of the Bui City project – a claim both individuals had vehemently denied.
But on Thursday, an obviously bruised General Mosquito had a hell of time defending himself, hopping from one radio station to the other denying any wrong-doing in securing a contract with the BPA though he himself admitted not informing the Board about his decision to do business with the organisation.
Mr Asiedu-Nketiah told Peace FM he could not fathom why people were trying to make his contract with the said company look awkward since, in his opinion, it was not the first time somebody serving on a company’s Board had managed to secure a contract with the same company.
He however admitted establishing a branch of his block manufacturing company at the Bui project site only three months ago.
He said he noticed the seeming difficulties by sub-contractors of the Bui project in procuring blocks and therefore decided to extend his block factory, which was originally in his hometown, Seikwa, closer to the project site for the benefit of the subcontractors.
In the face of the probing questions he was being asked, he said anybody who felt he had done something wrong should go and crucify him.
His defence was that he did not source the contract directly from the Board and could therefore not be cited for conflict of interest, since he got the contract from some of the companies subcontracted to work on the resettlement project, after which the board, of which he is a member, would then supervise.
That notwithstanding, the NDC General Secretary boasted of having been able to create jobs for the residents of the area, especially the youth, most of whom were currently into the block manufacturing business.
He therefore could not fathom why Mr Oware and his colleagues in the NPP who had been pushing for the inclusion of local companies in the construction of the STX houses, were raising issues with the award of contract to his company and citing him for conflict of interest.
This, he said, was because as a Board member of the BPA, he was not under any contractual obligation to provide blocks for the project, neither were the contractors under any compulsion to buy the blocks from his company.
That aside, General Mosquito said his blocks were of higher quality and therefore higher priced than those of his competitors, hence the wide patronage.
He later accused the Kufuor administration of not doing proper work on the Bui project, saying they either failed to conduct feasibility studies on the project, claiming nothing was left behind for the new managers.
But Mr Oware stood by his claim that prior to leaving office in May 2009, they had made provisions for funding for the Bui City with $28million set aside, of which $5million goes into employers permanent facilities, $12million for irrigation structures and $11million for facilities for resettlement as contained in the Bui Hydroelectric, EPC/Turn-key project contract volume 1 schedule of payment, subsection scheduled no. 17 provisional sum, which means that there wouldn’t be any need for extra cost as the government was pushing for $118million.
Additionally, Mr. Oware indicated that “there was a sum of $12million under schedule no. 2 road and bridge works which was to be applied to road works within the proposed city”, noting with emphasis, “A copy of the business plan (on the planning and development of Bui City) was handed over to the new Chief Executive Officer as part of the materials I left behind.”
He could therefore not fathom why the current government had approached Parliament with a request for additional funding of $118million to complete the hydroelectric project and submitted that “as an EPC/Turnkey contract, any additional funding to complete the project should have been out of the question”.
At the time of leaving office, Mr. Oware claimed there were three other passed certificates totaling over $97million which were unpaid, attracting penalties and therefore increasing the project cost, indicating that “the late payment has also led to delayed completion date”.
But the Bui Hydro Power Project which was started by previous NPP administration to build and operate an efficient hydroelectric plant that would generate electricity at base price to spur industrial and agricultural revolution in Ghana, impacting the lives of millions, is currently cash-strapped.
Mr. Oware however blamed the NDC government since adequate measures were put in place by the previous administration to forestall any such drawbacks which had led to government demanding an additional $118million to complete the hydroelectric project.