It has been revealed that machines and equipment acquired for the District District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), cost Ghana a whooping $178,704,739.50, translating into Ghc2.8 billion.
Acquisition of these equipment was made by J.A. Plant Pool, a member of the Jospong Group, as the contract was a single-sourced one, pointing to the fact that it is another means of the NPP to line pockets of its friends.
Aside from this amount going to the Jospong group, another exponential amount will go the way of the company as it will be responsible for training, procurement and recruitment.
J.A. Plant Pool, by extension Jospong group’s involvement in the DRIP programme, encompasses a comprehensive suite of services and the sustainability of the project, which means more ‘cash’ will be given as ‘a gift’ to the Jospong Group.
This expose comes from the work done by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Mahama Ayariga who filled a right to information request into the subject.
Okudzeto Ablakwa shared the response he got from the request on his X page. Portions of the report read, “Our thorough parliamentary oversight into government’s DRIP initiative after Hon. Mahama Ayariga and I filed a number of RTI requests, together with further analysis we have conducted from multiple impeccable sources have led us to the following incontrovertible findings:
1. The cost of the DRIP equipment to Ghanaian taxpayers is an unbelievable colossal amount of US$178,704,739.50. This translates to a staggering GHS2.8billion. (DACF RTI response is attached)
2. Worryingly, the District Assemblies Common Fund Secretariat informs us that this US$178.7million (GHS2.8billion) figure will rise further when training, recruitments, PPEs and other procurements are finalized;
3. The sole funding source for DRIP is the District Assemblies Common Fund and the gigantic nature of the liability means that the fund would be crippled in the next couple of years;
4. The US$178.7million (GHS2.8billion) contract was not awarded competitively. It was yet another single-sourced sweetheart deal as confirmed by the DACF in their formal response.”
