$13.9m on veep’s mansion an insult to Ghanaians – PPP

Asamoah-Siaw, the Policy Adviser of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), has described as shocking and insulting to the Ghanaian populace for a supposed amount of $13.9 million to be spent in constructing a vice presidential villa, saying policy interventions are needed to stop such wastage, rather than an investigation into the contract as suggested.

There have been calls for an investigation into the contract and expenditure of the bungalow after Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia’s sounded an alarm about the $13.9 million cost of the building.

The Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akomea, has revealed that government may launch a full-scale audit into the contract.

But Mr. Asamoah-Siaw is skeptical about such calls expressing fears that any investigation would only lead to a cover-up.

He instead said policy interventions were the way to go in preventing similar occurrences in future.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, he said, “We [the PPP] will not call for an investigation because we think an investigation is a tool to cover-up. What we want are policies to prevent this from happening again in the future. what we want are policies that prevent this from happening again in the future.”

“The reason why we don’t want to put too much emphasis [on an investigation] is that you go round in circles and when you finish, you come and put the document before the Attorney General of the Republic. If she doesn’t have the political will to prosecute a member of the political class or elite, nothing will change.”

He further suggested these revelations were part of a cycle that sees the two main political parties, the National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party seek to smear each other when the assume power.

Ultimately, Mr. Asiamah-Siaw said the amount was shocking and offensive considering Ghana’s economic status adding that the PPP saw this “more evidence of how people in public office care less about national preservation and rather want to promote self-preservation.”