The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, has caused the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to probe the allegation of bribery before road contracts are awarded.
He has requested the EOCO to ensure that the veracity or otherwise of the claims made by Professor Stephen Adei is known.
According to a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations, Nasir Ahmad Yartey, the attention of the ministry was drawn to the allegations, which they said bordered on a commission of crime, thus the complaint for investigation.
“Given that the alleged conduct borders on the commission of crime against the Republic, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoato-Attah has today, October 23, 2023 requested the Executive Director of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to fully investigate the allegations,” the release issued on Monday said.
The statement opined that the allegations were surprising as the processes leading to the award of road contracts are open, transparent, competitive and in accordance with the law.
ALLEGATION
Speaking to TV3’s Ghana Today program on Friday, October 23, 2023 the former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof. Stephen Adei, was emphatic on the allegation and described it as disappointing.
He said, inter alia, that “… before this road contracts will be given to you, provided you put one million upfront, not when you get the money, your money. And this is what Akufo-Addo should be thinking about… That now his people demand from you a certain amount before you will be considered for the job.
Why? Because then, when they get it, whether the government pays you or not, they have gotten their money. As if people are in a hurry to loot the country before the end of Akufo-Addo’s term.”
CORRUPTION
Since its first term, the Akufo-Addo government has suffered several allegations of corruption and corruption-related activities involving some of its appointees.
On May 25, 2022 the Office of the Special Prosecutor began the prosecution of the former Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority, Adjenim Boateng Adjei.
He was charged by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice after its investigation, but the High Court later dismissed the CHRAJ report.
NOT A CLEARING AGENT
A section of the public have criticized the president for what they described as clearing his appointees for allegedly meddling themselves in corrupt acts, and have tagged him as a ‘clearing agent.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo, on several platforms, debunked the allegation of clearing his appointees, but rather explained that he referred the matter to the appropriate investigative bodies for probe.
Speaking at the 2023 Ghana Bar Association Annual Conference last month, he remarked that the efforts of his government to fight corruption were unmatched in Ghana.
He said that “every single alleged act of corruption leveled against any of my appointees have been investigated by independent bodies such as CHRAJ and CID. It is not my job to clear or convict any person accused of wrongdoing or of engaging in acts of corruption; that is the job of courts and law enforcement agencies.”
