Collins Dauda faces criminal charges over Saglemi Housing -As Gov’t Finally Finds Its Will

Alhaji Collins Dauda, the former Works and Housing Minister under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been slapped with criminal charges for the shambolic Saglemi Housing project.

The Attorney General’s Office has revealed that it is pressing criminal charges against Against Collins Dauda.

Collins Dauda would be going into the docks with several others believed to have played key roles in the dubious Saglemi project. This includes Kwaku Agyemang Mensah, also a former housing minister, Ziblim Yakubu, a former Chief Director at the

Ministry, Andrew Clocanas, the Executive Chairman of Construtora OAS Ghana Limited, the construction company responsible for Saglemi and one Novi Tetteh Angelo.

The Saglemi housing project has stalled for close to seven years now, after controversies erupted around the contract.

The Akufo Addo administration vowed to charge all those responsible for the project which is believed to have resulted in the embezzlement of some US$ 114 million and thus caused the stalling of the project.

However, Samuel Atta Akyea, the sleepy Minister of Housing appointed by President Akufo Addo only blew hot air and failed woefully in unravelling the claimed corruption that underpinned the Saglemi project.  

The Akufo Addo administration claimed it had instituted an audit whose report was allegedly submitted to the Ghana Institution of Surveyors revealing the $114 million embezzlement by the NDC administration.

According to then Minister Samuel Atta-Akyea, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the police had interrogated his predecessor and other Ministers in the Mahama era for allegedly ‘inflating’ the cost of the 1,500 units constructed at the project meant to be an affordable housing project of the government.

According to the audit report, some US $179. 90million was said to have been spent on the project, but upon scrutiny, it was established that only US $64 million, had been spent on the 1,500 housing units.

The outstanding US$114 million appear to have developed wings and taken to flight as finding it has become a tussle that has lasted the better of five years.

The project is situated on a 2,172 acres land that was procured in 2002 during the era of President John Agyekum Kufuor.

On August 15, 2012, the late President John Evans Atta Mills gave executive approval to the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to start the project which initially involved 5,000 housing units.

They were meant to be sold at affordable rates to interested members of the public. However, by the time the NDC was leaving office, only 1500 units had been constructed and were at different stages of completion.

At an expended cost of US$64 million on 1,500 as stated by the audit report on the project, the cost price of each unit would be some US$ 43,000. Inclusion of profit margins to the units could easily ballon the sales price to US$ 55,000 some five years ago.

This will put the houses beyond the bracket of affordable, critics have pointed out.  

The project was implemented by Constrastora OAS Ghana Limited through a buyer’s credit of up to $200 million.