The Minority in Parliament has accused the government of inflating the cost of the 307 ambulances procured in 2019.

The caucus contends that the ambulances were not supposed to exceed 25 million dollars at a unit cost of 80,000 dollars.

Addressing journalists, the Chairman of the Government Assurances Committee of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa demanded full accountability and prosecution of persons found culpable in the deal.

He referenced the Auditor General’s 2022 performance audit, which revealed the inflated procurement.

“The procurement of the 307 ambulances cost this country $54.3 million. The Auditor General has revealed if you go through the 2022 performance audit that that procurement itself is problematic. When you do the analysis, it was an inflated procurement because page 24 of the audit reveals that the unit price of the ambulance is $80,000 and yet we paid $54.3 million,” he said.

According to him, “$80,000 multiplied by 307, we should not have paid more than $25 million for this ambulance. And yet Ghana was made to pay a colossal, whopping $54.3 million as discovered on page two of the Auditor General’s report.”

He alleged that between 2020 and 2023 an amount of 115 million Ghana Cedis has been paid to Service Ghana Auto Group Limited, which has one of its key directors being the in-law of President Akufo-Addo, Stephen Okoro, for maintenance of the ambulances under shady circumstances.

Ablakwa claimed that the company is also linked to the President’s daughters through a longstanding business partnership.

“Then you need to also consider the fact that between 2020 and 2023, this company, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited, has been paid 115 million Ghana cedis in addition to the $54.3 million then the latest scandal, the intercepted letters of the Hon.Ken Ofori Atta on the 9th February 2024, a few days before he left office on the 14 February, he instructed that this $34.9 million should be approved and that his ministry would take care of $10 million and the National Health Insurance Authority should take care of the outstanding $24.9 million,” he disclosed.

He further revealed that “A key director of Service, Ghana Auto Group Limited, is named, Stephen Okoro.  We have discovered through our parliamentary oversight, diligent parliamentary oversight, that Stephen Okoro is not just any Ghanaian or Nigerian for that matter. He is an in-law to President Akufo-Addo. Stephen Okoro has given President Akufo-Addo a grandchild.”

“This is a fact. And now in the corruption literature, politically exposed persons come under greater scrutiny. That is why when we were formulating the Office of Special Prosecutor Act, we included politically exposed persons,” he added.

“The other thing that makes Stephen Okoro so politically exposed is that we have discovered that he is a longstanding business partner of the Akufo-Addo daughters,”Okudzeto concluded.

Source : Citinewsroom.com