[ad_1]
General news for Friday, October 9, 2020
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
2020-10-09
Former President, John Agyekum Kufuor and Former President Mahama
Claim:
Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) Public Affairs Manager Fiifi Boafo has said that the award of the cocoa road contracts started under former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
According to him, former President Mahama’s claims that the awarding of the cocoa route projects began under his administration are inaccurate.
Verdict: TRUE
Explanation:
Former President John Dramani Mahama has claimed that the Akufo-Addo-led administration has spent a whopping US $ 10 million to conduct an audit report on the cacao highway projects that were started under his administration.
According to him, it was an unforgivable move by the Akufo-Addo administration to ‘abandon’ the cocoa roads project upon taking office in 2017.
But Ghana’s Public Affairs Manager COCOBOD reacting to complaints on CitiTV’s Point of View segment on Youtube on October 5, 2020 said:
“It is inaccurate to say that President Mahama initiated the awarding of highway projects for cacao. The construction of the cocoa roads is actually something that started with President John Agyekum Kufour and is not an innovation that started with John Mahama. The awarding of the contracts for the cocoa route continued during the term of President Mahama and is still ongoing during the term of President Akufo-Addo ”.
Meanwhile, the minority in Parliament has also claimed that former President John Mahama did start awarding cocoa road projects that they say were also abandoned by the ruling Akufo-Addo government.
In addition, some contracts related to cocoa road projects under the former John Dramani Mahama administration are currently being investigated by the Ghana COCOBOD under the Akufo-Addo-led administration.
“There is no evidence that there have been irregularities in the cacao roads during former President Mahama. There is nothing to show that any of the procurement, even under a single supplier, was made incorrectly because Section 40 was complied with, ”Kwame Agodza, a senior member of Parliament’s Transportation Committee, told JoyNews in an interview. on October 5, 2020.
check
To determine the veracity of the claims, our verifications revealed that former President John Agyekum Kufuor in February 2008 launched the Cacao Roads Improvement Project (CRIP).
The project aimed to upgrade the main roads from Accra to neighboring Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
That year an amount of US $ 100 million was made available. [2008] taring selected roads in six selected cocoa growing areas and US $ 200 million in 2011.
“Work is being done in several metropolises, municipalities and district capitals to reduce traffic congestion, improve public transportation and support economic activities. Accra is a typical example of these -Nkrumah Circle-Ofankor; Tetteh Quarshie-Aburi; Mallam-Kasoa and across the country, ”President John Agyekum Kufuor said on February 14, 2008.
At the time, President Kufour added that since taking office in 2001, more than 1,000 kilometers of secondary roads had been paved across the country, some 4,800 kilometers had been rehabilitated, 10,000 kilometers had been improved, and they had become to pave 2,300 kilometers.
In 2015, the program was relaunched as the Cacao Roads Rehabilitation Program under former President John Dramani Mahama during a working visit to the Ashanti and East regions.
The $ 750 million program under the government of the former National Democratic Congress was intended to fill the gap in road infrastructure in the cocoa-producing areas in Ghana and was said to be the largest road infrastructure project to be funded by the Board of the Cocoa from Ghana.
Over five years, COCOBOD set aside part of its earnings of US $ 150 million each year for five years to finance the reconstruction of selected roads in cocoa growing areas.
Some of the assigned road projects were in Asamakese-Suhum; Adeiso-Asamankese; Osenase-Akwatia; Koforidua-Bunso; Apedwa-Kyebi – Bunso and Kyebi urban roads.
Other projects included the rehabilitation of the roads in the city of Suhum, the construction of selected roads in Asamankese and the bituminous paving of the Noyem-Winso-Amuana-Praso, Mangoase-Kukua, Chia-Brenase-Ofoase and Akim Sekyere-Abekoase roads. .
In total, a total of 628.70 kilometers of roads had been allocated for construction in Phase 1 of the project through October 2015.
conclusion
Statements made by Ghana Public Affairs COCOBOD, Fiifi Boafo are accurate and contain no element of parody or satire regarding which former President of the Republic of Ghana John Dramani Mahama began awarding cocoa road projects for the development.
The reporter produced this fact check under the auspices of the 2020 Dubawa Scholarship in partnership with GhanaWeb.com to facilitate the spirit of “truth” in journalism to enhance media literacy in the country.
Send your news to
and features for
. Chat with us through WhatsApp at +233 55 2699 625.
