President Akufo-Addo has made it clear that former Housing Minister, Samuel Atta Akyea, is one of the many appointees that he is not re-appointing and apparently, this has lifted the weight off his tongue as he lampoons the President and the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
Atta Akyea, a cousin to the President blamed President Akufo-Addo and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta as the cause of the hanger-on that he became.
Reviewing his stewardship in the first four years of government, the poorest performing Housing Minister in the past half-decade claims his Ministry was not a priority to Akufo-Addo administration despite the impression created by the government that it will tackle the 1.5million housing deficit in the country.
“It’s obvious that when you look at the kind of loans that some of the Ministries had, measured against what I had to use for housing, to a very reasonable degree. I didn’t have any money for housing, and that’s a fact. It was the perspective of the Finance Minister that it wasn’t our priority now. We were dealing seriously with Planting for Food and Jobs and Free SHS which were money-sucking,” he told Accra-based Citi TV’s ‘Face to Face’.
“I didn’t agree, but I didn’t have a choice because of the hard fact that there’s a President who is determining what is a priority to him. If you pay regard to the Constitution, you are part of the government to help in policy so if you proffer a view which does not find favour with the President and Finance Minister, that’s the end of the matter,” Atta Akyea explained.
“I have a good working relationship with Ken Ofori-Atta [Former Finance Minister] and every issue I had with him was dealt with upfront. I certainly had issues with him. I used to question him about the funds allocated to my Ministry,” he added.
In the four years that Atta Akyea was Housing Minister, the only noteworthy achievement attributed to him was his futile effort to prosecute his his predecessor for an alleged financial loss to the State in respect of the Saglemi affordable housing projects.
The housing Minister had often announced that he had put together a crack team of accounting experts to review the financing of the project and that after the review is completed he will have his predecessors sued.
However, the said suit remained a pipe dream.