Bawumia unaware he’s now Vice President – Deputy Minority Leader

Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi has said the Vice President, Dr Mahamdu Bawumia must cease conducting himself as though he’s still on the campaign platform.

According to him, the Veep must wake up to the reality that he’s now the number two leader of Ghana and must stop the unnecessary politicking and get down to work.

He was commenting on the revelation by the Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia that an official residence currently under construction for Vice President cost a staggering $13.9million

Dr Bawumia told participants at a Good Corporate Governance Initiative event at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra on Tuesday, January, 31 that he was shocked when he was informed about the whopping amount being sunk into the project.

“There was this brouhaha about the vice president’s residence, I’m sure you heard about that, so in the context of discussing this issue, there’s supposed to be a vice president’s residence under construction, official, so to speak, so, I asked the question: why is this project being delayed, why hasn’t it been finished? And they said: ‘Well, the contractor is owed a lot of money.’ I said: ‘Well how much is this money?’ And then I’m told it is actually a lot of money. How much is this house actually costing? And I was shocked when I was told. Can you believe in Ghana we are building a house to house our vice president and this house is supposed to cost $13.9million? I mean what sort of house is this supposed to be? I mean, is the gate made of gold, the pavement of gold, the blocks of gold? [A] house in Ghana for 13.9 million dollars? I couldn’t believe it. How many boreholes couldn’t we have done [with such an amount?]. Of course I’m 100 per cent sure it didn’t go through competitive tender otherwise we would have known about it. It was most likely sole-sourced and there it stands uncompleted, but this is just an example of many contracts that we don’t have value for money for …”

But speaking to Starr FM Wednesday, Hon. Avedzi who is the former Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament stated that the Veep must stop lamenting and face the music as he’s now in power.

“I can tell you that even if the amount mentioned to the Vice President was even$3m, he would have said the same thing. His problem, I pity him is that he’s still in the campaign mood…he’s not aware that he’s now the Vice President. He’s no in the driving chair let’s leave it to him to do. Because as I listen to him and the way he speaks means that he’s still on the campaign platform.

“I wish him well that he builds that house probably with GHC 10,000…I wish him well. Listen to the tape, he says how much boreholes will this amount have been used for? so it’s like he’s on the campaign platform blaming the previous administration so vote for me, the people have voted for you and so forget about that. Now the reality is dawning on him, so he should face the music. He said that Ghana we don’t need to borrow because we have the resources…the money is here in Ghana, so why should he be borrowing. I wish he doesn’t borrow a Kobo, so that he uses the revenue generated here in Ghana to develope the country for us.”