Mahama Ayariga Drags BoG Officials To Special Prosecutor Over $222.80m2 min read
The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga has hinted at reporting Dr Ernest Addison, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), and his deputies to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
His reasons are regarding contracts awarded for the construction of a new central bank headquarters.
The NDC MP who gave a hint of the threat in a letter dated October 2, 2023, addressed to the BoG Governor, lamented his frustration with the lack of transparency and information provided by the leadership of the central bank regarding the contract awards.
The letter cited by DGN reads that “I write to inform you that I will refer you and your deputies to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for investigation and possible prosecution. This is in relation to the matter of the award of a contract for the construction of a new head office building for the Bank of Ghana. I suspect that your team, in collusion with the contractors, overpriced the project with a possible view to obtaining personal gain’’.
‘’I reject your use of “national security considerations” as a reason to refuse to answer my questions properly. My decision to report you is in view of your refusal to provide a proper response to my request for information pursuant to the Right to Information Request.”
Mahama Ayariga also threatened that he would persistently pursue the BoG Governor until he provides clarity on the contract awards to Messrs. Goldkey Properties Limited.
“Let me assure you that we will pursue you until you come clean on how a project which you yourself had originally priced at USD100,857,924.48 for 73,000sq.m got awarded to Messrs. Goldkey Properties Limited, in the same year, at USD121,807,8517.94 and how a variation in scope of works of about 36.9% increase has led to a project cost escalation of 84% increase which has resulted in the 107,737sq.m now costing USD 222,799,760.55’’.
‘’This is a project priced in United States Dollars. This we do for the love of country and in pursuit of A Better Ghana,” he stated in the letter.
Ayariga narrowly escaped the OSP’s hammer during Martin Amidu’s tenure when he allegedly imported cars from Dubai using parliamentary privileges.
