GHS1.2m AstroTurf saga: My hands clean – Bolga MCE

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Bolgatanga, Joseph Amiyuure, has absolved himself of any wrongdoing in the controversial GHS1.2 million AstroTurf project in the regional capital and Navrongo, of which the main opposition National Democratic Congress has raised value-for-money concerns and described as needless.

“They called me on phone and wanted locations where they could put this stadium you are talking of, and I went and showed them two places [and] they selected one place. So, all the dealings and whatever has been done was done by the Zongo Ministry,” he told Class91.3FM on Tuesday, 6 November 2018.

The Upper East Regional Secretariat of the NDC has given the Special Prosecutor a two-week ultimatum to investigate the MCE as well as the former Minister of Inner-cities and Zongo Development, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique, over the project.

The Deputy Upper East Regional Communications Director of the NDC, Casper Kampoli, who first made the allegations, said the funds used for the project could have gone into development projects that would have benefitted the community.

“The pitch that we have at the park is not AstroTurf, it is constructed with normal grass that is supposed to grow but cannot grow well because of the type of soil used for the project. As a result, the grass has turned into plants on the pitch”, Mr Kampoli alleged, adding that: “The chief said the AstroTurf is not their priority”, and that “they would have wished the government addressed” their infrastructure conditions and the prevailing poor conditions in the Zongo communities.

Apart from that, Mr Kampoli said there are no spectator stands, no washrooms and no changing rooms as stipulated in the contract.