GHC60, 000 FOR ONE BOREHOLE
-Industry players quote GHC14, 000
The Mahama-led National Democratic Congress government has intensified the agenda of looting the national coffers, ostensibly to steal funds for campaign activities, with exactly two weeks to the presidential and parliamentary elections.
And as if there is no tomorrow, a whopping amount of GHC30 million is being spent by the government for the construction of 500 boreholes for some selected communities in the country. This means the taxpayer is being charged GHC60, 000 per borehole, even though checks with industry players show that a borehole be constructed even at the cost of less than GHC14,000.
According to documents available to the Daily Statesman, the contract for the project was awarded by the Public Utility and Regulatory Commission through sole-sourcing, which has become the means for siphoning state funds under the Mahama government.
The PURC document, dated October 6, 2016, and addressed to the Public Procurment Authority, said it was requesting for "single-sourced procurement approval for PURC'S pro-poor water project" and that "there is an immediate and pressing need for potable water in the selected communities in view of the lack of adequate rainfall in the communities this current year to prevent epidemics which result from consumption of disease infested and unwholesome."
The beneficiary communities include Bole, Kumawu, Sekyere Afram Plains, Bulsa North, Agbozume, Kpandai, Akim Swedru and Yendi, while the contractors working on the project include Doayin Services, Epharne Services, Hydronomics Ltd, T B L Resources Ltd and Yonbert Ventures.
Addressing a press conference on the issue yesterday, former General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, stated that the construction of the boreholes was not so much of an emergency that should pass for sole-sourcing.
"Now, construction of a borehole, as a matter of fact, should not qualify as an emergency to be offered on a sole-sourcing basis. Again, the price-tag for a mechanized bore-hole, according to players in the industry, should not be more than GH¢18,000, irrespective of the area or location. To drill a mechanized borehole ranges between GH¢12,000 and GH¢18,000 anywhere in Ghana on the open market," Mr Owusu Afriyie disclosed.
'Sir John', as he is affectionately called, further revealed that if the government had opted to construct the borehole at GHC18,000, and not the bloated GHC60,000, the total amount would have been GHC9m and not GHC30m, adding that the amount to be saved could have been used to address critical issues facing other sectors of the economy.
"Now, we currently find ourselves in a country and under a government where allowances for nurses and teacher trainees have been cancelled due to unavailability of funds in the state coffers. Qualified and working professionals from these two fields of study who have been fortunate to be employed have had to go without monthly salaries for not less than 3years in some instances. Again, there are some of these professionals who have qualified, for years, but have not been employed and have become burdens on their parents by way of daily upkeep," Sir John lamented.
He added that the Mahama government was deliberately embarking on sole-sourcing of projects to loot the state coffers, stressing, "Pure acts of unbridled corruption, under the current government, have become the norm and appointees who engage in it are sometimes made to refund the loot at their very convenience and on their own appointed pace, while others are elevated by being offered cozy offices at the presidency with no defined responsibilities."
He continued, "Ironically, NDC claims to be a social democratic party, and more strangely, the purpose of this bore-hole project was to provide relief to the poor. Now, this mantra of being pro-poor political party has been trumpeted by the NDC, to the point where unsuspecting members of Ghanaians society have fallen for this deception. But in reality, the party has become a vehicle for creating, looting and sharing taxpayers' monies. This obscenely corrupt vehicle, undoubtedly, is being driven by equal cabal of unrepentant socioeconomic criminals whose only claim to fame is merciless dissipation of state resources."
Sir John further observed that Ghanaians had been rendered poorer by President Mahama and the NDC, adding that Ghanaians should show him the exit on December 7.
"As a people, we must be ready to take our destiny into our own hands and rise to the occasion on 7th December, 2016, to effect the change which is so critical to our collective socioeconomic survival. Four years in the life of a nation is very important and must never be toyed with this time round," he stressed.
He warned that should Ghanaians make the mistake of retaining the NDC, it would amount "to signing our ultimate death warrants."
He added: "This NDC government has proven to be corrupt beyond the boundaries of human comprehension, and must be fittingly voted out of power, come 7th December, 2016, and a credible party, the NPP, led by the incorruptible Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, given the mandate to serve so that our coffers shall be protected and resources judiciously managed."
