Mahama gov't negotiated funds for Tema, Obetsebi, Pokuase, Tamale interchanges - Former Minister

A former Minister for Roads and Highways in the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration says it does not come as a surprise to him that President Nana Akufo-Addo refused again to acknowledge the contribution of the ex-President in the construction of Phase 1 of the Tema Interchange.

Hon. Alhaji Inusah Fuseini claims his prediction came to pass when the President Commissioned the Phase 1 of the Tema Interchange, since he had earlier asserted that President Akufo-Addo will never give credit to his predecessor with regards to issues of development.

“I said it before President Akufo-Addo commissioned the Tema Motorway interchange on last Thursday that he will never give John Mahama credit for the interchange and he had done that, it would have been the wonder of the year if he had done contrary to my claims,” he claimed.

Obetsebi Is Mahama's Brainchild

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Hon. Inusah Fuseini accused President Akufo-Addo of similar action when he cut sod for the construction of the Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange; a project he claimed is also a product of the NDC's good governance.

“With the Obetsebi interchange, the Mahama administration went for a loan for the beginning of the project and the reason was due to the Kwame Nkrumah interchange and the Kasoa Interchange . . . we did it in order to ease the Kasoa-Circle traffic situation.

“There were some bottlenecks with the Obetsebi Lamptey interchange after the construction of the Nkrumah Circle Interchange and we went sourcing for funds for the Obetsebi Lamptey interchange . . . but when President Akufo-Addo cut sod for the construction of the Obetsebi Interchange, did you hear him mention John Dramani Mahama’s name?” he quizzed.

Tamale & Pokuase; Mahama Designed, Costed & Sourced For Funds

Hon. Inusah Fuseini, who is currently the NDC MP for Tamale Central, also revealed that the money for the Pokuase Interchange-designed, planned and costed by the NDC - was secured by the Mahama administration from the Africa Development Bank when the Pokuase-Amasaman road was under construction. Not only that, the Tamale Interchange.

“Again, the Pokuase Interchange, it was the Mahama administration that went to Africa Development Bank; the bank gave us money for the Pokuase-Amasaman road construction and when we were done, we decided to reconstruct the road to the Rees Junction because that road will pass through the central corridor at the ACP Junction and we decided to construct an interchange at the ACP and Africa Development Bank gave us money for that project . . . NDC designed, planned and did the costing for the construction of the interchange.

“The contractors bidding for the contract were coming to my office but we didn’t get to the process of selecting a contractor for the project before we lost power to the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government. Have you ever heard President Akufo-Addo give credit to John Mahama as someone who started the Pokuase Interchange?”

“If you go to the Ministry of Roads and Highways, under John Mahama’s administration, the Tamale Interchange was called Rivoli Interchange; we designed it and if you go into the archives, I have referred to that interchange severally. I mean that the idea came from the NDC and we took money from the Turkish Exim Bank and the terms and conditions for that Turkish Exim Bank was cheaper than the Syno-Hydro deal but we couldn’t go for the money because Ghana was under IMF conditionality under the Mahama’s administration and so the IMF didn’t agree to the construction of the commercial facility,” he recounted.

JICA Connection

The Tamale Central MP further disclosed that Mr Mahama engaged the Japanese government through JICA for the construction of a bridge over Volevo River and to reconstruct Tema Interchange.

“The money, design and everything about the first phase of the interchange, it was completed by us (NDC), but we didn’t sign the agreement for the money and so the first agreement which the NPP signed was with JICA in 2017 and at that time Nana Akufo-Addo hadn't travel, likewise the Minister of Roads...and Nana Addo was not even done with the appointment of his ministers....that agreement was not even signed by the Road Minister because the part of the agreement is going to Gender Ministry and so it was the Gender Minister who signed the agreement...the agreement was signed in three months in 2017 for the construction of the Tema Interchange,” he recounted.