Emmanuel Bedzra, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho West, says he will avail himself at the High Court to testify in support of the trial against Collins Dauda.
The Republic of Ghana has hauled Collins Dauda, who was the Minister for Works and Housing in the government of President John Mahama, to an Accra High Court on 52 charges of causing financial loss to the state in the building of some 5,000 affordable houses at Saglemi in the Ningo-Prampram District, Greater Accra Region.
Mr Dauda is not alone in the alleged offence.
Many a supporter of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the party’s MPs hold a strong view that this government, led by President Akufo-Addo, is on a wild witch-hunting journey to unjustly nail its political opponents.
Indeed, the Minority in Parliament, led by its leader, Haruna Iddrisu held a presser to condemn the action by the state and said it was witch-hunting.
Appearing on a morning political show on Ahotor FM, in Tema, Emmanuel Bedzra, the West Ho MP and member of the NDC, said the prosecution of his colleague party member and MP is much ado about nothing.
Mr Bedzra asserted, everything about the Saglemi Housing Project Mr Dauda executed had been documented in an agreement, which the Parliament of Ghana has copies.
“The contract agreements and its terms of executions and payment plans were all prepared and signed by E.T Mensah, who was the sector Minister before Collins Dauda, who only took over to follow the roadmap’.
“In fact, the initial project was in four phases as signed by E.T Mensah, but it was changed to three phases for the same 5,000 housing units, and the agreement factored in all tax reliefs etc.,” Mr Bedzra explained.
As part of the agreement, he said Ghana Home Loans Company would take over the first completed housing units to mortgage to workers and “in fact, by the time the contractor had finished the first phase, 15,000 workers had already signed on to the Saglemi Housing facility with Ghana Home Loans Company mortgage. And you know what? By the agreement, the workers would pay the money into an escrow account for the building of the next phase and because the Saglemi Housing Project was a concept, the payments would be rolled on to the next phase until all the 5,000 units were executed. It is a concept and it is clear in black and white in the agreement.”
Emmanuel Bedzra revealed, he is ‘armed’ with the details of the Saglemi Housing Project because he was a member of the Works and Housing Committee then, and was part of the technical team that looked at the project before it went for value for money auditing.
What makes him more confident that the Saglemi court case would not travel any distance was his point that the report in the custody of the government and Attorney General was a draft report.
He said: ”As a Fellow of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, I can state on authority that the report the government claims it has from the Institution is fake. What the government has is a draft report: it has no peer review and validation of that report. That’s why I call this government a substandard government.
“So, I can tell you that there is no case and I can tell you that the court will acquit and discharge all those who have been charged. I am not prejudging but I am telling you what I know,” Emmanuel Bedzra said with confidence.
By: Umar Sheriff Musah