Mahama Ayariga, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, has indicated his readiness to report the Governor and Deputy Governors of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), along with other Board members to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for investigation.
Ayariga’s complaint centers on the award of a contract for the construction of the new BoG head office building, alleging corruption and corruption-related offenses.
The MP is also demanding the OSP to investigate the contractors, Messrs. Goldkey Properties Ltd over possible connivance with BoG management to shortchange the state.
In a scathing letter addressed to the Bank of Ghana officials, Ayariga raised alarm at what he said is overpricing and potential corruption in the project.
He accused the Bank’s management of failing to provide adequate information when he made such a demand using “national security considerations” as an excuse to avoid transparency.
“The uncorresponding change in the cost of the project, relative to the change in scope of works, is clearly unreasonable and can only be explained by suspected padding of project cost and corruption,” Ayariga stated in his letter.
He raised concerns about the substantial increase in the project cost despite a relatively smaller increase in the scope of work. He alleged that the initial proposed project cost of USD100,857,924.48 for a 73,000 sq.m building was later awarded to the contractors at USD121,078,517.94, and subsequently escalated to USD222,799,760.55 for a gross floor area of approximately 107,737 sq.m.
“On the basis of the above analysis of the project cost change and given your cowardly decision to hide under the banner of “national security considerations” to refuse to provide adequate information which would have laid bare obvious corruption and overpricing of a public project, I am left with no other option but to report to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) what I believe to be a case of suspected “corruption and corruption-related offenses” under section 2(a) and 79 of The Office of Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).”
“Let me assure you that we will pursue you until you come clean on how a project which you yourself had originally priced at USD100,857,924.48 for 73,000 sq.m got awarded to Messrs. Goldkey Properties Limited at USD121,078,517.94 and how a variation in scope of works of about 36.9% increase has led to a project cost escalation of 84%.”
“This we do for the love of country and in pursuit of A Better Ghana,” he stated
Below is the full text of the letter
REPORTING GOVERNOR AND DEPUTY GOVERNORS OF BANK OF GHANA TO THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR FOR INVESTIGATION
I write to inform you that I will refer you and your deputies to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for investigation and possible prosecution. This is in relation to the matter of the award of a contract for the construction of a new head office building for the Bank of Ghana.
I suspect that your team, in collusion with the contractors, overpriced the project with a possible view to obtaining personal gain. I reject your use of “national security considerations” as a reason to refuse to answer my questions properly. My decision to report you is in view of your refusal to provide a proper response to my request for information pursuant to the Right to Information Request. Your letter dated 22nd August 2023 referenced SF/GEN/7/2023/75 refers. Note your rather very brief and inadequate response.
In response to my request for information regarding “The cost, scope of works, bill of quantities and contract start and completion dates of the new headquarters building of the Bank of Ghana currently under construction at Ridge in Accra” you responded as follows:
“The project consists of three main blocks namely:
- A Twenty (20) — Storey Tower Block ii. An Eight (8) — Storey Urban Block iii. A 6— Storey Amenities Block
Other facilities include:
Podium — Upper Ground ii. Podium — Lower Ground iii. Basements — Three (3) level basement car parking areas iv. Ancillary facilities v. Energy Farm vi. Treatment plants vii. Security Gate Houses
The Project is expected to be completed in September 2024.
Having regard to the stage of the project and reasonableness of the unit cost, the Central Tender Review Committee (CTRC) granted concurrent approval for the revised scope of works at a contract amount of Two Hundred and Twenty — Two Million, Seven Hundred and Ninety — Nine Thousand, Seven Hundred and Sixty US Dollars and Fifty-Five Cents relating to a unit cost of USS2,068.13/sqm.
Given the national security considerations associated with the building, the Bank is unable to provide further details on the scope of works.” (Emphasis mine).
In effect, you are refusing to provide any specifics in terms of information on the scope of works on grounds of “national security considerations”. You state that the project cost has increased to USD 222,799,760.55. You also set USD2,068.13/sqm as the basis for the evaluation of project costing. You even think it is relatively cheap at that unit cost.
You attached a document titled “Special Press Briefing by the Governor of Bank of Ghana” dated 21st August 2023 and another document titled “NEW BANK HEADQUARTERS OF GHANA CORPORATE PROJECT” which has 7 pages but not dated. The first document contains self-serving evaluations of your performance as Governor of the Central Bank.
On page 2 of the document entitled ‘NEW BANK OF GHANA CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS PROJECT” and under the heading “Approval from Public Procurement Authority” you state that:
“The PPA by letter dated 29th January 2020 conveyed the Board’s approval to the Bank of Ghana. This approval to use the shortlisted contractors for the Restricted Tender also revised downwards the estimated cost of the project from USD100,857,924.48 to USD81,882,640.00 without any justification.”
Your original proposed project cost was actually USD100,857,924.48 for a “projected gross floor area of 73,000 sq.m” but PPA recommended that you should award the contract at USD81,882,640.00. The contract ultimately was awarded at USD121,078,517.94 following a 4th September 2020 grant of concurrent approval by the Central Tender Review Committee (CTRC).
Page 6 of the “NEW BANK OF GHANA CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS PROJECT” document has a last paragraph that states that “CTRC subsequently granted concurrent approval for the revised scope of works at a cost of USD2,068.00/M2 on 17th January 2023.” On page 5 of that document, you revealed that there was a “…modification of the initial design concept to the current gross floor area in excess of 100,000 sq.m.”
Per your statement, the unit cost of a square meter of your scope of work is USD2,068.00. The project cost is now USS222,799,760.55. So, by simple arithmetic, we can easily calculate the scope of works and define it to be about 107,737 sq.m.
Suspected Case of Corruption and Corruption-Related Offence
The briefing on the CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS PROJECT states clearly that the cost per square meter is the basis for determining the project cost. When the scope of works of the project moved from 73,000 sq.m to about 107,737 sq.m, we expect a corresponding change in the cost of the project. However, the variation in scope of work was about 36.9% but the project cost changed by 84%. The price moved from USD121,078,517.94 to USD222,799,760.55.
This un-corresponding change in the cost of the project, relative to the change in scope of works, is clearly unreasonable and can only be explained by suspected padding of project cost and corruption. Your refusal to provide details to aid any understanding of the pricing reinforces my belief that massive corruption explains the shift in office project price from USD81,882640.00 to USD121,078,517.94 and then to USD222,799,760.55. Even more so when you yourselves initially proposed a price of USD100,857,924.48.
On the basis of the above analysis of the project cost change and given your cowardly decision to hide under the banner of “national security considerations” to refuse to provide adequate information which would have laid bare obvious corruption and overpricing of a public project, I am left with no other option but to report to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) what I believe to be a case of suspected “corruption and corruption-related offenses” under section 2(a) and 79 of The Office of Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).
My complaint will request that you – the Governor, the Deputy Governors, all other members of the Board of the BOG, and Messrs. Goldkey Properties Ltd (the contractors) – should be investigated for corruption and corruption-related offenses relating to overpricing of the Bank of Ghana new headquarters building with the object of obtaining a personal gain ultimately.
Let me assure you that we will pursue you until you come clean on how a project which you yourself had originally priced at USD100,857,924.48 for 73,000sq.m got awarded to Messrs. Goldkey Properties Limited, in the same year, at USD121,807,8517.94 and how a variation in scope of works of about 36.9% increase has led to a project cost escalation of 84% increase which has resulted in the 107,737sq.m now costing USD 222,799,760.55.
This is a project priced in United States Dollars.
This we do for the love of the country and in pursuit of A Better Ghana.
Mahama Ayariga
MP for Bawku Central