Gov’t Paying Ghc100m To Dredge Odaw Which Ibrahim Mahama Dredged For Free

The Akufo-Addo government has put in motion plans to pay Dredge Masters, a sister company to ZoomLion waste company, a whopping Ghc100million for supposed work done to drain sewages and drains in the Accra Sanitary, Sewer and Drainage Alleviation Project Phase III.

But a commitment to make such huge payments at a time that the country is going through serious economic hardships has led to anger from award-winning investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni.

In a protest post on social media, Mr. Awuni who provides a copy of a 17th March bank transfer advice from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to the Bank of Ghana for the money to be transferred into Dredge Masters’ bank account, points out that the Drainage Alleviation Project Phase III is in reference to the dredging of the Odaw river which was dredged for free by Ibrahim Mahama, the younger brother of former President Mahama in 2015.

Ibrahim Mahama who is the Chief Executive of Engineers and Planners had undertaken to dredge the Odaw free of charge. His effort had elicited serious criticism from the NPP which was then in opposition because Akufo-Addo and his party had claimed that President Mahama had nepotistically awarded his younger brother a contract.

“In 2015, president Mahama’s brother, Ibrahim Mahama, used the government’s equipment to dredge the Odaw for free. Hell broke loose with all manner of accusations from the opposition NPP. In this hardship when even National Service Personnel cannot be paid, the NPP (government) is paying a Zoomlion sister company one hundred million Ghana cedis for work on the Odaw,” Mr. Awuni wrote.

He pointed out that, “the perennial fetching of sand and other waste materials from the Odaw isn’t a permanent solution so why does the government not employ operators to use its to dredge as Ibrahim Mahama did? The cost of maintaining the equipment and paying operators won’t be Ghc100,000,000.”

Interestingly, the government has a whole Ministry for Sanitation, but still dubiously engage Zoomlion in these sanitation contracts that are often fraught in allegations of rent-seeking and corruption.

The 17th March payment advice to the Bank of Ghana for Dredge Masters was signed by Controller and Accountant General, Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem.

The advice was issued after the Ministry of Finance, headed by President Akufo-Addo’s scandal-prone cousin, Ken Ofori-Atta, had requested the transfer.

“Ministry of Finance letter No. B.03/MOEN/ESLA/2022/09 dated 16th March 2022 refers.

Please transfer the sum of Ghc100,000,000.00 (one hundred million Ghana cedis) from the Sanitation and Pollution Account No. 1018131511213 at Bank of Ghana into account details below: Account name – Dredge Masters Limited; Account No. – 011209018200; Bank – Omni BSIC; branch – Nmai-Dzorn,” the advice read.

for its part, Dredge Masters had been given a scope of works that consisted of the dredging of a channel from the Odaw Onyasia confluence at Caprice in Accra, through Avenor, Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, and the Agbogbloshie-South Kaneshie Drain (the Upper and Lower Lagoon).