Bawumia Must Apologise For ‘Lying’ About Cost Of Nkrumah Interchange - NDC
Amanda
The National Democratic Congress has asked Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to apologise over what it says were lies he spewed about the cost of the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange. The Vice President says the interchange cost $260 million but the NDC accused
Dr. Bawumia of adding “the cost of two separate and distinct projects; the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and the Ring Road Flyover” to arrive at the amount he quoted. Dr. Bawumia suggested that the NDC inflated the contract sum for the construction of the Nkrumah
Circle interchange. But the Communication Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, at a press conference on Monday, August 24, 2020 said the current government “created the impression as though the $260 million was the cost of just one project the Nkrumah Interchange.”
“This mischief which was peddled by no less a person than the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana is shameful and reprehensible to say the least,” Mr. Gyamfi said. “The scope of work of the two projects are totally different, and so it is disingenuous and shameful for Dr.
Bawumia to lump the cost of the two projects together and create the impression that same is inflated.” The NDC maintains that the cost of the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange project as approved by Parliament and expended by the contractor was $90 million at the time.
“This fact is contained in the Parliamentary Hansard of 16th August 2012, when the transaction was approved by the 5th Parliament of Ghana, with the full participation and approval of the then New Patriotic Party Minority,” Mr. Gyamfi said. He also recalled that
the Mahama government on October 1, 2014 “laid before Parliament another export credit facility for the design and construction of another project the Ring Road Flyover at a cost $170 million.” Given the NDC’s stance, Mr. Gyamfi said “if Bawumia has any modicum
of respect for Ghanaians, he will honourably do the needful by retracting and apologizing for this lie which has further lowered his fast-sinking reputation and sullied his integrity and that of the high office he occupies.”
