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The Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA) has saddle itself with pure mockery after its attempt to justify the appointment of a Director for a future probable Port for Keta in the Volta Region led it to release a very infantile statement.
Among others, the GPHA claimed in a statement that Dr. Alexander Yaw Adusei Jnr whose designation is Director of the yet to be built Keta Port, has been indispensable because he helped the GPHA hunt for a Consultant for the project.
The statement which is signed by Esther Gyebi Donkor, General Manager in charge of Marketing and Corporate Affairs also said the appointment of the man who is receiving salaries as Director of a Port that has not yet been built is justified because among other things, he is helping with feasibility studies for the project.
Feasibility studies, are background checks and analyses that experts make to see if a given project would be suitable for a particular place or not.
“A national strategic project of this magnitude requires Preliminary activities before physical construction. This includes conceptualizatuion, needs and visibility assessment, stakeholder engagements, cost-benefit analysis, among others which usually spans a very long period. Invariably, such activities are best led by astute professionals with requisite legal skills and knowledge in contract negotiation, international law and project management.
“The immeasurable need for effective negotiations when it comes to Port infrastructure development and concession requires experienced negotiators with solid legal background to ensure value for money at all stages of the development process and such expertise could not fall under any less capacity below the level of directorship within the Port Authority. As such, Director of the Port of Keta Port, Dr, Alexander Yaw Adusei Jr. was appointed as the project lead to liasise with the requisite teams to facilitate the background activities toward implementation of the Keta project,” Esther Gyebi wrote.
According to this woman since Dr. Adusei Jnr. Was pointed in March last year, he has led GPHA , “to negotiate and select a consultant to commence the feasibility study of the Keta Port which was signed on Monday, 15th June, 2020 anmd field feasibility has already taken off. An inception report has been submitted and discussed and GPHA is expecting a final report from the consultants in a couple of months.”
It is not clear what will become of the Director of the yet to be built Keta Port, if the final report comes and the Consultants decide that the Keta Port is not viable.
Many have seen the appointment of a Director for a Port which is not yet in existence by President Akufo-Add as very strange indeed, with the Minority in Parliament calling for the appointment to be reversed.
Ordinary Ghanaians have also expressed consternation over the Akufo-Addo government’s hurry to appoint a Port Director for a nonexistent project, a thing that has led to many expressing disbelief over the strange development.
It was in response to these concerns that the GPHA came out with a statement today trying to justify the appointment of a Director for a nonexistent Port by claiming that the Director of the nonexistent port has been indispensable because he has among other things been prospecting for consultants to do feasibility studies to see if the Port idea is doable.
Many are asking if the GPHA as an Authority of State does not even have the expertise to just invite Consultants to make presentations and therefore President Akufo-Addo had to appoint a Director for the nonexistent Port just so that he can among other things invite Consultants for the project.
Interestingly, before the appointment of Dr. Adusei Jnr. the GPHA already had five Port Directors, making Dr. Adusei, the Director of the nonexistent Port, the 6th.
According to the GPHA statement, Dr. Adusei has the expertise and exceptional legal background in Port Management and is therefore richly qualified for the job and yet the same Dr. Adusei, had to invite Consultants to come and do feasibility studies.
Many have said the appointment is very corrupt and wasteful, with the Minority in Parliament demanding a reversal.