Vice-president IMANI Africa, Bright Simons has fingered the office of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in turning a $20M e-Gate project into a $240M cash cow
The e-gates project was launched on Tuesday, December 3, and is regarded as a landmark in Ghana’s efforts to modernize border management with a system designed, developed, and owned by Ghanaians.
According to Bright Simons, Ghana’s e-Immigration system was originally funded by $20M of World Bank money and was designed to modernize border management with biometric e-gates and secure databases.
Bright Simons noted that before Ghana’s e-Immigration program could fully take off, there was a change of government. According to his investigations, the system was reportedly delivered by French IT giant Thales in 2020, despite millions spent, none of the systems funded by the World Bank were operational.
Bright Simons detailed a politically connected contractors have reportedly pushed for a $240M privatized involvement under the guise of “upgrading” the system.
“Sometime in 2023, the Vice President’s office became the center of gravity of all these machinations. Our deeply embedded sources there gave us detailed rundowns of machinations to undermine the smooth rollout of the official e-Immigration program, shelf it, and re-award contracts to the most beloved of digital contractors today, the Margins Group. The same fast-growing entity in charge of Ghana’s privatized national identification system”, Bright Simons stated.
Margins Group, the same company managing Ghana’s controversial National ID system allegedly used political influence to undermine an existing contractor, Securiport, to gain control of the e-Immigration rollout.
The details from his write-up reveal the Vice President’s office allegedly proposed imposing a $11 tax on air travelers to finance the project.
When this was met with resistance, they allegedly suggested siphoning funds from Ghana Immigration Services and the Airport Company which sources say is an “outrageous” move that risks privatizing Ghana’s immigration system, draining vital resources, and undermining national security.
The $240 million project’s price tag stands in stark contrast to the $20 million already spent by the World Bank on similar features, reflecting a spending increase of twelve times for something that is allegedly already delivered.
Investigators assert that the launch of e-Gate was merely a spectacle intended to justify this deal, dodging parliamentary scrutiny and hastily finalizing contracts before the Akufo-Addo Bawumia administration exit office.
