Disclose contractual agreement with Ibrahim Mahama – Mornah

The General Secretary of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah, is demanding that government makes full disclosure if any, of the contractual agreement between it and Engineers and Planners (E&P) for the desilting of the Odaw drain.

He is also demanding from the Minority to make public their evidence of the state’s machinery and or equipment that were spotted at the construction site of E&P.

This, he noted, will bring to an end the hullabaloo surrounding the use of the state machinery and or equipment by E&P, a private firm which belongs to Ibrahim Mahama, brother to President John Mahama.

It will also enable the public make informed decisions about the task that was executed by Mr. Mahama’s firm.

“Whether it is free or not, there is supposed to be a contractual understanding between the government and E&P. What is the agreement – are you going to do it for us for free of charge or we are going to pay? If it is free of charge, is the government going to fuel the machines and or equipment for you to operate and those working for you, is it the government who is going to feed them or what?”

“We need to know and understand clearly what agreement the government entered into with E&P. If the agreement is not known and we wake up and somebody says we should thank Ibrahim Mahama for desilting the Odaw drain, some people will have problems with it,” he noted in an interview on Hello FM Saturday.

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 NPP Caucus, were spotted at a road construction site of Engineers and Planners owned by 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 at no cost to the nation.

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.

Mornah commenting further on the issue said the government will do Ghanaians a big favour if it is able to make full disclosure of the contractual agreement since the benefits to E&P are enormous.

“You emboss the equipment with your company’s logo – that is advertisement for you. So, the direct benefit may not be the money that had been paid to Ibrahim, but as part of his company’s profile, they will also write that we executed this job on this day. So it will come out as a benefit but not in monetary terms – a benefit that will increase the stature of the company.”

“So, with all these, we want to just know what the agreement between Engineers and Planners and the government is. When they do that I believe this hullabaloo will cease.”