Akufo-Addo govt has been cruel to local contractors – Mahama

Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Dramani Mahama has taken a swipe at the current government for seemingly snubbing local contractors since assumption of power in 2017.

According to the former president, local contractors are going through loads of frustrations after the Akufo-Addo-led government suspended all contracts in the name of doing a value-for-money audit.

In an interview to wrap up his campaign tour of the Bono Region, former president Mahama said Akufo-Addo will go down in history as the worst president ever in the history of the country’s construction industry.

“Today, the construction industry is recording hardly any growth,” he noted.

The leader of the NDC said when government contracts were being awarded in his term, there was no occasion political lenses were used in the selection of contractors.

He said he personally charged his ministers of roads and finance to give priority to local contractors in the award of government of Ghana contracts like the Terminal 3 project at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

But the current government just came “and killed” them “because of parochial political reasons,” he bemoaned.

“The unfortunate thing is that while he is failing to pay local contractors, he is paying the foreign contractors,” Mr Mahama said on Thursday, October 1, citing how Chinese contractors, for instance, continue to work on their projects since 2017.

“This Nana Addo administration has been very cruel to local contractors,” he summed up.