Group sues gov’t over bus rebranding saga

Pressure group, Citizens Movement, has filed a suit against government demanding transparency in the controversial bus rebranding contract.

The group among other reliefs is asking the court to order the attorney general to make public her findings into the contentious contract awarded NDC supporter Selassie Ibrahim, chief executive officer of Smarttys production, the company that won the deal.

They join seven other Ghanaians who are already in court seeking clarity in the process that led to the award of the contract.

Background


There was massive public outcry in the latter part of 2015 when there were reports that the Ministry of Transport had spent Gh?3.6 million on the branding of the buses.

Smarttys Productions, the company which was contracted to undertake the branding of the buses was chastised by Ghanaians and some industry experts for charging an overboard amount.

The situation led to the resignation of Mrs Dzifa Attivor as the Minister of Transport, whiles the Chief of Staff, Mr Julius Debrah, ordered an investigation into the matter.

The Management of Smarttys, led by its owner, Ms Selassie Ibrahim, was initially asked to refund Gh?1.9 million of the GHc 3.6 million paid by the state. Later the amount Smartty's was to refund was reduced to Gh?1.5million.