The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central Constituency has petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to immediately probe alleged corruption in the procurement of the Bank of Ghana’s new head office project.
Mahama Ayariga, in a letter to the OSP on Monday, October 30, demanded Ernest Addison, the Governor, and his two deputies, the board members of the central bank and Goldkey Properties Ltd, the contractors for the project, to be investigated.
He indicated that the BoG Governor has failed to explain why the price of the project escalated from US$121,807,8517.94 to US$222,799,760.55.
“In spite of a written request to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana under the Right to Information Act, the Governor and his team have not been able to explain to me how there was a price escalation from US$121,807,8517.94 to US$222,799,760.55 (about 84%) when the scope of work increased from 73,000 square meters to about 107,737 square meters (36.9%).”
“I hereby make a formal complaint to your office to investigate what I believe to be a case of corruption in the procurement of the new headquarters building of the Bank of Ghana at Ridge in Accra.”
In his view, the OSP has the power to investigate the matter and ensure that state funds are not misused for the benefit of a selected few.
According to him, when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MP) led a public demonstration to demand the accountability of the Governor and his Deputy Governors, the Governor chose to call the MPs all sorts of names and asked them to use institutional mechanisms to hold him accountable.
“I believe the Office of Special Prosecutor has jurisdiction to investigate all cases of suspected ‘corruption and corruption-related offences’ by public officers and private persons working with public officials under section 2(a) and 79 of The Office of Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959),” he said.
Mahama Ayariga expressed his readiness to testify to all the facts he has gathered on the matter and expressed hope the OSP will be able to obtain all the details of the variations of the project design and costing variations to arrive at a conclusion on this matter.
“When I wrote to the Governor for an explanation, he responded to me in a letter dated 22nd August 2023 and referenced SF/GEN/7/2023/75, to the effect that he is unable to provide me with the full details of the project design variation which has led to the price escalation for reasons of “National Security.”
The refusal to explain the price escalation, he said, provides the basis for his suspicion of corruption in the procurement.