Works and Housing Minister inaugurates Advisory Board, committees

Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, the Minister of Works and Housing, Tuesday inaugurated a Ministerial Advisory Board, Audit and Entity Tender committees to execute specific tasks to address the housing challenges in the country.

Members of the Board and committees swore Oaths of Office and Secrecy.

The Advisory Board is made up of Mr Asenso-Boakye, Mrs Freda Prempeh, the Minister of State at the Works and Housing Ministry, Mr Solomon Asoalla, the Chief Director, Mr Benjamin Arthur, Acting Deputy Executive Secretary, Operations (Lands Commission), and Mr Kofi Osafo-Marfo, Deputy Director-General, Investment and Operations, SSNIT.

The rest are: Mr Farid Antar, Managing Director of Republic Bank, Mr Isaac Badu, Civil Engineer, Volta River Authority, Mr Eric Nana Agyeman-Prempeh, Director-General of National Disaster Management Organisation, and Mr Patrick Ebo Bonful, President, Ghana Real Estate Association.

The Audit Committee comprises Mr Solomon Asoalla, the Chief Director, Ms Alberta Kwarko, Director-General, Administration, Mr Ebenezer Sam, Director of Human Resource Management and Development, all from the Ministry of Works and Housing, and Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf Twumasi and Mr Ransford Agyei, representatives of the Internal Audit Agency.

Members of the Entity Tender Committee are Mr Asenso-Boakye, Mr Solomon Asoalla, Ms Alberta Kwarko, all from the Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr Richmond Evans Appiah, Civil Engineer, Ghana Institution of Engineering, and Mr Agbesi Dzakpasu, Lexkudoz Law Firm.

The other members from the Works and Housing Ministry are Reverend Stephen Yaw Osei, Mr Francis Twum Boateng, Senior Supply Officer, and Mrs Perpetual Gyaabaah Tawiah, Head of Accounts, with Madam Sylvia Adusu being representative of the Attorney General’s Department.

The Ministerial Advisory Board was tasked to promote constant interaction between the Ministry and the users of its services and advise the Minister on adjustments in policy directions, planning objectives and operational strategies.

It was also expected to meet at least once every quarter to deliberate on issues pertaining to the sector.

The Audit Committee, on the other hand, is to ensure that the Ministry pursued the implementation of recommendations contained in internal audit reports, Parliament’s decision in the Auditor General’s Report, the Auditor-General’s Management letter and other reports relating to financial matters.

Mr Asenso-Boakye charged the Entity Tender Committee, which by law was responsible for making decisions in procurement for the Ministry, subject to the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act 2016 (Act 914), to work assiduously to effectively deliver on its mandate.

He advised the Committee to ensure that each stage of the procurement processes and procedures, as described in the Law, was strictly adhered to.

“In the performance of your duties, you are expected to exercise sound judgment in making procurement decisions. I hope you will live up to this required expectations,” he said.

Mr Asenso-Boakye encouraged the committees and the Board to persevere to work diligently towards the achievement of the tasks to ultimately feed into the achievements of the overall mandate of the Ministry.

“Certainly, this is a big challenge and I am positive that with the level of expertise on each of these Committees, we shall together achieve a lot for this Ministry,” he said.

He urged them to work hard to address the two million housing deficit and instant cash payment for housing problems the country faced due to over reliance on expensive imported materials and inadequate funding, among other things.

Mr Farid Antar, the MD of the Republic Bank, and a member of the Advisory Board, on behalf of the other members, commended the Minister for inviting them to contribute to addressing Ghana’s housing challenges.