The latest potential corruption scandal involves the Minister of Works and Housing Minster Samuel Atta Aykea awarding a whopping US$ 961 million contract to a Ghanaian company whose special purpose vehicle (SPV) has a disturbingly similar name to the law firm of Mr. Atta Akyea.
The amount is expected to be borne by the Ghanaian government as details of the contracts are still sketchy.
The curious contract signed in August 2018 between the Ministry of Works and Housing and Othniel Limited for the construction of 20,000 affordable housing units would be undertaken by the SPV called Zoe Projects. Incidentally, Mr. Atta Akyea’s law firm is called Zoe, Akyea & Co Legal Practitioners.
According to Kevin Taylor, the host of online news analysis portal “With All Due Respect” who leaked this information on Wednesday, there is an undoubted link between the Minister and the Chief Executive officer of Othniel Limited, Jude Kwapong.
How the name Zoe became part of the project is still unclear as a search by Whatsup New shows that the only other entity registered officially as “Zoe” is a non-governmental organisation started in 2006 and owned by Valerie and Kaspar Heer who mostly concern themselves with revitalising deprived basic schools across the country.
. The Contract signed in August, 2018 mandates Othniel Limited to put up a 20,000 affordable housing unit at the cost of 961 million Ghana cedis with Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Works and Housing as the main off-taker for a period of 5 years.
Kevin Taylor believes there is a conflict of interest situation in the deal as the Minister of Public Procurement Sarah Adwoa Safo who may have scrutinised the contract was once working with Mr. Atta Akyea as a freshly graduated lawyer. Also, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta whose laps this huge public expenditure rests on is a direct cousin to the Works and Housing Minister.
Whatsup News is still digging for details of this current deal that threatens to add to the growing list of scandalous deals that have been overseen by appointees of President Akufo Addo in the past two years.
Meanwhile, another housing deal valued at a staggering US$ 34 billion for a supposed one million housing units across the country was signed just two months after the Zoe Project in October 2018.
The deal involves the government of Ghana partnering Greenspan Innovations Solutions Limited and Austrian-based Global Housing Solutions. This incredibly ambitious public housing plan constitutes more than half of Ghana’s US$ 65 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as recorded in 2018.
Whatsup News is still digging for details of these two contracts that have raised red flags.