The Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) Caucus in Parliament has intensified its pressure on the government, demanding that the brother of the President, Ibrahim Mahama, must be made to pay for the State’s earth moving machinery his company used in dredging the Odaw drain.

According to the Minority, once the equipment and or machinery procured by the State have found its way into the hands of a private firm, it was important for that firm to pay for the full cost of the items.

In October 2014, the government entered into an agreement with GP Gunter Papenburg AG, a German Equipment Company, for the supply of equipment and or machinery.

Among the equipment and or machinery to be delivered were; Big Motor Grader 240T (40), Big Motor Grader 200T (20), Komatsu Bull Dozer (5), Komatsu Wheel Loader (20), Komatsu Excavator (10), Man Diesel Dump Trucks (20) and spare parts.

They were meant to be distributed to the 46 newly created District Assemblies to enhance service delivery.

However, after taking delivery of the items, some of them, according to the Minority, were spotted at a road construction site of Engineers and Planners owned by the President’s brother, Ibrahim Mahama at Tafo and Klago.

Some of the equipment and or machinery were also spotted being used by the company to desilt the Odaw drain some weeks after the June 3 flood and fire disaster.

The Minority Spokesperson on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Joe Osei Wusu who first raised the matter in July, 2015, charged the President to order his brother to return the equipment and or machinery in his possession.

Ibrahim Mahama in response said those equipment and or machinery were released to his company by the Ministry of Local Government to be used to desilt the Odaw drain.

But the Minority contends that once some of the equipment and or machinery were spotted at the construction site of Engineers and Planners, the firm should be made to pay the full cost of them.

“The equipment and or machinery were procured with the sole purpose of distributing them to selected District Assemblies for the enhancement of service delivery. It therefore came as a huge surprise to us that some of the very equipment and or machinery found their way to Engineers and Planners on the instruction of Hon. Nii Lantey Vanderpuije. This amounts to a diversion of state property to an individual because of his links to the top echelons of government.”

“We think that Engineers and Planners should be made to pay for the full cost of the machinery and or equipment improperly released to it and in its possession,” noted the Minority Spokesperson on Local Government, Kwesi Ameyaw Cheremeh, in an interaction with journalists Thursday.

That aside, they are also demanding to know when the Minister of Local Government took delivery of the equipment and or machinery, the quantities taken as specified in the agreement, where they are kept and why did they decide to privately register them.

They are also requesting to know why the Ministry of Local Government has neglected to timely distribute the equipment and or machinery as stated in its own Memorandum to Parliament.

By: Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana