Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has submitted a petition to the World Bank, urging an investigation into a $48 million unapproved contract.
The contract was allegedly signed by Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.
Last week, Ablakwa accused the Minister of awarding the contract without the necessary approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
The Minister, however, refuted the allegations and challenged Ablakwa to provide evidence of the contract she was said to have signed.
In response, Ablakwa presented additional details to support his claims, which the Minister dismissed as an attempt to divert attention from the main issue.
On July 12, 2023, Ablakwa publicly released the formal petition he had submitted to the World Bank a day earlier.
Taking to his Twitter handle, he called for an investigation into what he described as “irregularities, misrepresentation, insider dealing, and conflict of interest” surrounding the $48 million Ascend Scandal.
The North Tongue member also questioned how this scandal led to fraudulently securing a $49.5 million World Bank-funded eTransform project.
The eight-page petition was addressed to Ms. Maria C. Mallo, a senior investigator at the World Bank in Washington.
Ablakwa shared a tweet, stating, “Yesterday I petitioned @WorldBank to launch investigations into the litany of irregularities, misrepresentation, insider dealing & conflict of interest relating to the $48 million Ascend Scandal & how that was used to fraudulently secure a $49.5m WB funded eTransform project.”
This development raises significant concerns about potential wrongdoing and calls for a thorough investigation by the World Bank to shed light on the alleged irregularities surrounding the contract and the subsequent use of funds for the eTransform project.