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Deputy Minister for Power, John Jinapor has said that negotiations on the rural electrification project were held before the bus branding issue came up.

As such there was no way the agreement could have been called off as most Ghanaians claim government should have done with respect to the rural electrification project since it already had issues with Smarttys Management and Productions Limited.

“The government of Ghana on a serious note has no contract with Smatty's in respect to this electrification project , rather we had a main contractor, China Hunan Construction and Engineering Group Corporation which has a company here in Ghana that acts as their local representative,” he explained.

He added that “Indeed before I appeared before the committee of Mines and Energy in Parliament to defend the commercial agreement, I called on the PR agent of Hunan and she indicated that all Smarttys did as far as this electrification project was concerned was to help them with their PR work because alongside the work they do, they do Corporate Social Responsibility and as well, try to manage their PR work, which was the main thing Smarttys did as far as this issue was concerned.”

Some have questioned the appropriateness of government allowing Smarttys to be involved in such a huge contract worth $92m, especially in the wake of the controversial bus re-branding saga.

Smarttys, in view of this, has issued a press statement indicating that they conducted some PR job for Hunan which was their reason for their involvement in the project and not that they were awarded the contract itself. 

A statement signed by Kissi Agyebeng, Managing Partner of Cromwell Gray LLP, and lawyer for Smarttys said his client is not a party to the contract. 

“Our client dissociates themselves from the execution of any such contract between the government of Ghana and the other indicated party, China Hunan construction engineering group or any such entity. Our clients are not parties to the contract as reported in sections of the media. Our clients have, when requested at various times provided merely public relation services for China Hunan construction engineering group,” the statement said.

It also added that “this does not elevate our clients to the status of parties to the contract executed by the government of Ghana.”

They have further threatened to sue media houses or any person or group which drags them into the matter for the purposes of defaming them. 

However, Ranking Member on Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei refused to side with John Jinapor saying the PR for Smarttys should not have been part of the discussions made on the negotiations.

“What we learnt from the wealthy lemon situation was that instead of waiting for parliament to approve before we conduct a value for money audit, we would conduct a value for money audit and submit the entire report to parliament to show the transparency system we are embarking on. Which is a plus on the side of our current dealings because before this method was introduced, parliament would at first approve an audit and not get themselves involved again which was not the best,” he noted in an interview with an Accra-based private radio station; JOY FM.

This shows we are clearly improving on our system.

He emphatically stated that “The committee involved should have disclosed to parliament the main issue at hand to curb all these talks on the matter, even though government has an issue with Smarttys which is not over yet, but the company again happened to be involved in this issue.”

Late last year, an official investigation into a major bus branding scandal found that Ghanaian firm Smarttys over-billed the state by more than Ghc1.5 million in a Ghc3.6 million contract to re-brand 116 Metro Mass Transit buses.

Under intense public pressure, the Presidency ordered the company to cough up the excess funds it unjustly took from the state.

Officials say although some initial refund has been made, Smarttys still owes the state more than one million cedis. Smarttys is owned by Ghanaian actress and TV Host, Selassie Ibrahim.