A botched Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement between Government of Ghana and Ghana First Company Limited for construction of modern automated toilet facilities across the country has resulted in the deprivation of public toilet facilities in hundreds of Communities in the Country for over a year now.
Ghana First Company Limited [GhFCL], a waste management firm owned by Mr. Frank Akulley, with its German partners signed a PPP agreement with Government of Ghana in 2018 through the Local Government Ministry and the Sanitation Ministry to construct 20,000 units of modern automated toilet facilities across all Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts across the country at cost of $300,000,000.
Subsequently, the company awarded about 2000 contracts across the country for the construction of the first batch of its toilet facilities scheduled to be completed within four months. This led to the destruction of existing deplorable public toilet facilities in the beneficiary communities to pave way for the new ones due to the unavailability of Suitable lands.
However, the Projects have been abandoned for many months as the contractors nationwide battle the Company for payment per their understanding of the Contractual agreement.
This has rendered many Communities without toilet facilities compelling residents to engage in Open defecation while others walk several distances to queue to ease themselves in neighboring communities.
Kasapa News has gathered that Some angry residents in communities affected by the delay in completion of the projects in the Eastern Region are planning to embark on a massive demonstration to draw the attention of the government to their plight.
Daniel Ahiale, Assembly Member for Railways Electoral Area in New Juaben South lamented to Kasapa News that “my people are suffering. Now they are defecating everywhere. My biggest worry is the market women when they come there is nowhere for them to ease themselves so they also go to the bush. The nearest toilet facility is Ogua which when you go you have to join a long queue because it is now serving two communities. If Ghana First cannot do the project they should give it us to find a private investor to complete it”.
Meanwhile, the aggrieved contractors have petitioned the Sanitation Ministry and the Speaker of Parliament over their locked up funds with the company.
However, Ghana First Company maintains the project model is a turnkey type and that contractors shall be paid only upon completion and handover of the entire project.
Nonetheless, the company may upon satisfaction of the work done so far, pay 60% of the contract sum payable to the contractor.
This according to the company is reflected under Clause 39 of the Conditions of Agreement which provides that: “Without prejudice to Clause 5 of the contract agreement, the Employer reserves the right to pay part of the total sum amounting to 60% of the quantum sum after collaborative site visits and inspection is done by the employer, the bankers and the contractor. The employer, therefore, without any doubt reserves the right to uphold this said payment when defects are detected after collaborative site visits and inspection. Payment will, therefore, be done after these defects are remedied by the contractor”.