The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the high costs of projects have provided fertile grounds for breeding corruption, citing the case of the Ridge Hospital rehabilitation which he said was highly inflated.
“Every time you see the Ridge Hospital, you should recall that according to the Crown Agents, the contract for the project is inflated by $142 million. Every kilometer of road constructed by this government, every school block built under this government has cost more money than can be reasonably justified,” Nana Akufo-Addo stated on Monday when he delivered what he called the Real State of the Nation Address to respond to President John Mahama’s State of the Nation Address last Thursday.
Nana Akufo-Addo said under the eight years of the NPP the average cost of a kilometre of asphalted road was $480,000, while the average cost of the same stretch of asphalt under John Mahama’s NDC administration had suddenly shot up to $1.5 million.
Nana Akufo-Addo said the NPP constructed eight times more roads than the NDC, even though the NDC has had 10 times more money.
This, according to him, is because the NDC inflated the costs of road contracts, unlike the NPP’s value-for-money policy.
“There is a very good reason why the NPP managed to construct a lot more roads with less money than the NDC has done in these last seven years. It is about value for money. Under the eight years of the NPP, the average cost of 1km asphaltic road was $480,000. In these two terms of the NDC government, the average cost of the same 1km asphaltic road is $1.5 million. From $480,000 under President Kufuor to $1.5 million under President Mahama.
“This, fellow Ghanaians, is the real state of governance in Ghana today where government throws so much money at fewer projects. The more inflated the costs of projects are, the less our country develops and the less we are able to spend on the needy.”
He said there is little Mr Mahama was doing to tackle corruption which has eaten deeply into the moral fabric of the country.
“The president claims he has tackled corruption with determination and fortitude, and the paradox of exposure is creating the impression that corruption is prevalent in his government. Curiously, the president cannot point to one example where an exposure of corruption has come from his government. Each scandal that has been exposed has been unearthed by the media, civil society or the Minority in Parliament,” the NPP chieftain said.
Nana Addo charged, “It is clear from the actions taken on cases like judgement debts, the World Cup saga, GYEEDA, SADA, the DVLA saga, the Metro Mass branding, etc. that the fight against corruption is a sham. I say again, the so-called fight against corruption is a sham.”
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