Gh¢3.6m branding saga: ‘We’ve been fooled’

Crystal Concepts, the company which was subcontracted to rebrand the 116 intra-city buses, is livid after details of the contract were laid bare.

Crystal Concepts was subcontracted by Smarttys Management and Productions, the company which won the spraying and re-branding bid, to place the stickers on the buses at a cost of Gh¢100 per vehicle.

However, a pro-forma invoice from Smarttys Management to the Transport Minister disclosed that the firm charged a whopping Gh¢2000 as labour cost per bus.

That has angered the boss of Crystal Concepts Kwaku Mensah who told Starr News friends are pointing fingers at him for allegedly duping the state. According to him, Smarttys only paid his firm Gh¢100 per bus out of the Gh¢2000.

“We did the beautification of the buses,” Mensah confirmed. “During the negotiations we asked for Gh¢500 per bus but they said they can’t pay. Eventually, they said they will give us Gh¢100 per bus. My guys said once it is many and it is for the nation we should take the money.”

He added: “The coated sticker per bus should not even cost us Gh¢100… the whole bus in terms of printing should not cost more than Gh¢500. It is very ridiculous... They paid us Gh¢100 per bus for branding. We didn’t print. It is only the Ghana flag that we didn’t do.

“We even fought that they should give us Gh¢200 but they said no. When I saw the invoice I was like we are being fooled because everyone thought we got the money. I print for most of the well-equipped printers and I’m telling you for a fact that it won’t cost us more than Gh¢100 per bus. They still owe us.”

In the breakdown, the invoice indicates that the material cost of spraying one bus in the national colours is Gh¢14,210, Labour Cost for Stickers Gh¢2,000.

Meanwhile, the chief of staff Julius Debrah has ordered the attorney general to review the contract and furnish him with the findings by December 22.