FLASHBACK: Bus branding scandal cost us 2016 election – Twum Boafo

A year after the 2016 general elections, Mr. Kwadwo Twum Boafo, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Free Zones Board said the Bus Branding Saga affected the National Democratic Congress' chances of winning the elections.

The erstwhile John Dramani Mahama's administration suffered a major blow after it was reported that the government spent GHC3,649,044 on the re-branding of 116 buses for the Metro Mass Rapid Transit (MMRT).

Mr. Boafo in an interview with GHONE TV stated that he was not proud of the mistakes the party made during the bus branding incident.

‘’Everybody makes mistakes, it is in the nature of humans to make mistakes, the bus branding episode as far as I’m concerned was completely avoidable.’’

Read the full story originally published on March, 23 2017, 2006, on Ghanaweb

Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Free Zones Board, Kwadwo Twum Boafo has said that the mistakes of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the issue of the Bus Branding saga could have been avoided.

In an interview with Accra based GhOne TV, Mr Boafo explained that he is not proud of the mistakes the party made during the bus branding exercise.

‘’Everybody makes mistakes, it is in the nature of humans to make mistakes, the bus branding episode as far as I’m concerned was completely avoidable.’’

The Metro Mass Transit Limited is a public transportation company in Ghana. The company was set up to provide reliable and affordable means of transport for commuters within villages, towns, and cities as well as provide intercity movement.

In 2015 under the erstwhile Mahama government, it was alleged that GHC3,649,044 was spent on the re-branding of 116 buses for the Metro Mass Rapid Transit (MMRT) imported to improve the transport system in the country.

The GH¢3.6 million branding contract for 116 Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses was awarded to Selassie Ibrahim, an activist of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

According to Twum Boafo, scandals such as the Smartty's deal dented the good image of the NDC, a situation which contributed to the party's defeat in the 2016 polls.

“The size of the margin surprised me, the arguments that the leaping conditions of people in this country that our opponents have been making had had an effect, I thought we had a cogent argument at the time,’’ he asserted.

Explaining how the NDC was going to put money into the pockets of Ghanaians should the party had won the election, Mr Boafo said the Mahama-led government was putting in place certain things that the country needed to make lives of citizens comfortable such as massive infrastructural developments which is very important.

‘’You can’t tell me that roads, hospitals, schools, water treatment plants to resolving our myriad of problems with power generation wasn’t important, it was important,” he said.