Ghana Blows US$ 204 mil. on Tony Blair, Foreign Consultants.

As at 2018, the Akufo Addo administration has helped foreign consultants guzzle over US$ 204 million in “technical and management services”, Whatsup News has gathered.

Commenting on the sizeable amount given to foreign consultants, US-based Ghanaian law professor, Prof. Kwaku Asare (Kwaku Azar) wrote on his Facebook wall today: “Your beloved country spent $204,325,225 on the payment of technical and management services. By way of comparison, $39,946,317 was spent in 2017.  The over 400% increase, we are told, is due to more consultancy services paid during 2018.”

The amount works out to over GHC 1 billion is a huge chunk (over 2%) of total revenue of GH¢51 billion collected by Ghana that year.

“I’d like to see a listing of the consultants, the nature and benefit of the consultancy, and value for money audit of each of those services.”

Among the beneficiaries of this lucrative pay-out is former British Prime Minister through his foundations: The Tony Blair Governance Initiative and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

Tony Blair who was in January this year full of glowing praises for the Akufo Addo administration, reportedly secured consultancy deals for investment to Ghana, particularly in the Agricultural sector.

Late last year, the ex-British PM held talks with Ghana’s Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto on investment opportunities in Ghana’s agricultural sector. The discussion centres on how Mr. Blair can use his foundation to woo investors into the Ghanaian agricultural sector.

Another foreign consultant under the auspices of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is the US-based private consultancy firm Mckinsey which has a foothold in the running of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

Unconfirmed information picked up by Whatsup News shows that former British High Commissioner to Ghana may have also clinched a juicy consultancy deal with the government.

Critics have questioned why the Akufo Addo administration is spending such significant funds on foreign consultants when it is on record as the government with the biggest size ever, with over 110 ministers, countless presidential staffers and other appointees.

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