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Opinions of Monday, 13 January 2014

Columnist: Adomua, Sam

A special appeal to president Mahama

Mr President I am an ordinary Ghanaian citizen who is trying to help myself, my family and fellow Ghanaians in order to help move the country forward. We all know how passionate you are in turning the fortunes of the country into a better one for all. Many Governments have come and gone each promising to take care of small business like mine but ended up doing nothing at all to help.
Mr President, I invested substantial amount of money in a contract I got from the ministries of road and transport about three years ago. I took a loan from the bank to invest in drainage contracts which I completed within a month because I have the necessary funds. At the time of the contract the pound to cedi rate was about GHC2.650 to the pound. It took the ministries almost a year to prepare a simple payment certificate. To date I have still not received payment for all the projects I have executed. The drainages we constructed are currently in use, yet I have not received a penny for the project I executed. Today the pound to cedi rate is about GHC3.70. This clearly shows that I have lost so much money due to inflation/depression of the cedi, yet I do not know when these monies will be paid. This also applies to other contractors too.
Mr President, this is the story about me and many other local contractors in the country. Some have passed away because they could not bear the mortification from the banks, family and friends whose monies they borrowed to complete projects for the Government of Ghana. This clearly does not speak well of a country who expound about improving the lot of local businesses.

Mr President, a lot of projects has been carried out and payments have not been made to the various contractors. We will be very grateful if you could find the necessary funds to clear all the arrears for drainage contractors whose payment certificate are still gathering dust in the offices of the road fund. We have paid so much to complete these projects and it is only fair that we are paid without further delays to enable us pay for the loans we took from the bank and friends. Life is very difficult for us and we can only plead with your good office in a very humble manner to resolve this issue without further delay. We have already lost the little profit we have in the project due to the depression of the cedi. All that we want is to be paid in order for us to pay our loans. The banks are on our back, our families are on our back and our good Samaritan friends are also on our back chasing us for the loans they gave us. Times are very hard for us and we have now reached the stage where going forward is perilous.
Mr President, I will like to rest my case here and I hope and believe that you will hear our plea and come to our rescue. Long live our country.

Author:
Adomua Sam
Accra Ghana