Mahama cut sod for Kumasi Airport 2 days to polls to 'deceive' voters – Minister

If anyone deserves to be called “petty”, it is former President John Mahama, who cut sod for the Kumasi Airport project two days to elections to lure voters to retain him in office, Minister of Aviation Cecilia Dapaah has said.

Responding to claims by Mr Mahama that the Akufo-Addo government is stealing his projects, Ms Dapaah said on Monday, 11 June that: “I must say I do not see the beef of the former President”.

Mr Mahama had said on Saturday, 9 June that President Nana Akufo-Addo and his government were “plagiarising” his projects without due recognition.

The ex-president’s comment followed the decision by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to cut sod for the commencement of work on the second phase of the Kumasi Airport project on Wednesday, 6 June 2018.

In attendance at the sod-cutting ceremony were Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Chief of Staff Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, ministers of state, some Members of Parliament, as well as the Head of Trade at the British High Commission, Mr Peter Courtney.

The project, expected to be completed in 24 months, will involve the extension of the runway from the current 1,981 metres to 2,300 metres, an addition of 319 metres, and the construction of a new terminal building with the capacity to hold one million passengers per year.

However, the president’s sod-cutting event did not go down well with Mr Mahama, who, while addressing a gathering of NDC supporters at the party’s Unity Walk held in the Volta Region, said he has cut the sod for the second phase already and wondered why the current government will take such an action.

“Our opponents who accused us of photo-shopped projects, today, they are going round commissioning those projects.

“But you know the most shocking, they are also cutting sod again for projects that we have cut sod for already. Kumasi Airport phase 2; we got the loan $65 million, we sent it to parliament, parliament approved it. On 5 December 2016, I was asked to go cut sod for the project, when I went to the site, the contractor had started working, he had taken control of the site, he had fenced off the site, he has cleared the place and started working. And I broke the ground for the commencement of work.

“On 7 January, they asked him to stop work and they kept him waiting for 18 months and they come back and cut the same sod, same contractor, same money, same site and you ask the contractor to build and finish within two years. That project would have been finished by next year, what a waste of national resources”, Mahama bemoaned.

He continued: “Let me give you examples, and that is the pettiness of the NPP. They cannot even give credit where it is due. What does it take away from you when you give credit? President Rawlings carried out the feasibility study for the Bui Dam project, President Kufuor came and found the money and started the project when president Mills came the money wasn’t enough, so, he went to China and got additional money, the project was finally finished under president Mahama.

“When I went to commission the Bui Dam project, I invited President Kufuor to come and sit down. I told the whole country that this man started this project, what do you lose? When President Mills was commissioning the N1 project, he invited President Kufuor to come and sit down and he said it is this man who started it …What do you lose? It shows the pettiness, low standards, immaturity of the NPP as a government. There are many other projects that I know they will come to commission. This plagiarism; I thought that only speeches were plagiarised but now I know that projects can also be plagiarised”.

In direct response to Mr Mahama, Ms Dapaah told Umaru Sanda Amadu on Accra-based Citi FM’s Eyewitness News on Monday, 11 June that: “I know, and it is a fact that we were the ones who came in to sign the financial agreement on the 29th of December, 2017, and the loan became operational in April 2018, hence the cutting of the sod in June”.

“I do not see his beef”, she stressed, adding: “If he cut the sod two days to election that is his side. He is rather being petty. I am sorry! This is not about pettiness on our part. It is rather on his part. I do not see why he should go and cut the sod two days to election to deceive the people of Ashanti Region.”