STX Was A One-Man Idea And Gov't Bought Into It - IMANI

A policy think-tank, IMANI Ghana, has said President John Evans Mills and former Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister, Alban Bagbin, should take direct responsibility for the failure of the STX Housing deal. According to IMANI, their failure to follow due diligence coupled with their disregard for the concerns raised about the inconsistencies in the deal support their position. The STX Housing deal was abrogated by the Ghana government following reports of internal wrangling between the partners in the deal. The 30,000 affordable housing project was meant to provide accommodation to the country�s security agencies. Speaking on the maiden edition of Citi FM's news analysis program, Inside Politics, Kofi Bentil of IMANI Ghana said any self-respecting political figure would have excused themselves from office following the outcome of the deal. �Since we have an executive presidency, the president should take the flak,� he declared. �This was championed by a particular minister of works and housing and he thumbed his nose in our face all through, calling us nation wreckers and all sorts of things.� Mr. Bentil urged Parliament to call for proper accounting for fiscal workings into the STX deal and also to find out what exactly went wrong in its proceedings. �Government went ahead with this thing [STX] when it was not even in our budget, it was floated, it was one man�s idea and government bought into it,� he said. Currently, the Government of Ghana is repossessing all the 15 sites it handed over to STX Korea for the construction of the botched affordable housing project.