Consultants Hound Dzamesi

The Volta Regional Minister, Mr Kofi Dzamesi, is being aggressively pursued by Construction Industry Consultants, a company supervising the construction of office blocks for the three newly created districts in the Volta Region, to back down on his decision to terminate their contract, failure of which may land him in court.

Investigations by The Independent have established that the contracts, which are for the construction of an office complex for the Krachi East, South Dayi and Adaklu-Anyigbe Assemblies, were terminated two days after Mr Dzamesi had assumed duty as the Volta Regional Minister.

This, sources close to the Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) hinted, is ample evidence of fears raised in certain quarters that Mr Dzamesi, has long been undermining his former boss, Mr Kwasi Owusu Yeboah. The sources also hinted that, the minister has blatantly refused, for no apparent reason other than his hatred for Mr Owusu Yeboah and the desire to undo what was done before he (Dzamesi) took office, to sign certificates prepared by the consultants and which have been approved by all authorizing officers of both the RCC and the Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL). The investigations also revealed that while he has terminated the three contracts and has subsequently refused to pay for them, the minister has awarded fresh contracts in the same three new districts and has paid the contractors involved mobilization to start the work.

The Consultants have through their solicitors, M.A.F. Ribeiro and Associates, already served notice on the minister and the Regional Tender Board, to either rescind the decision or face the full rigours of the law. The solicitors in their letter to the Tender Board dated March 30, 2004 in response to the letter dated February 14, 2005 which terminated the contract, said the manner in which the contracts were terminated "raises serious questions bordering on motives and integrity of the board of the Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council," which awarded the contract during the tenure of the former Minister, Kwasi Owusu-Yebaoh.