Mahama Exposed Again

Joseph Boahen Aidoo

Joseph Boahen Aidoo, a former Western Regional Minister under President John Agyekum Kufuor's regime is accusing President John Mahama of dubiously taking credit for a project his NDC government did little or nothing to bring into realization.

According to the former Minister, President John Mahama was dishonest for taking full credit for the construction of Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road in the Western Region, in his state of the nation address.

The former Western Regional Minister, Joseph Boahen Aidoo in a press release indicated that the road project was bequeathed to Ghanaians by ex-president John Kufuor before leaving office.

The former minister therefore stressed that President Mahama’s mention of the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road as one of his achievements smacked of deceit.

According to Mr Aidoo, 87 km of that road project was completed by ex-president Kufuor before leaving office.

He indicated that the ex-president left behind funding, engineering specifications and designs for the completion of the entire project but the project was stalled under the late John Mills.

He alleged that following the late Professor Mills' decision, in his early days in office, to discontinue all works on President Kufuor’s projects, the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road project and others like the Legon-Adenta, Kumasi Sofoline interchange, and Suhum overpass, were stalled.

According to him, it was not until March 30, 2011 before the late President Mills went to Bogoso to cut a sod for the resumption of works.

He pointed out that the construction of the road project had needlessly been delayed for 27 months just because of sheer political expediency, adding “as we speak today, the project is still not completed”.

.
The former Minister therefore found it surprising that president Mahama would take credit for the project when it was the NPP that did everything and began the project.

“Before NPP left office in January 2009, the 87 km stretch from Takoradi to Tarkwa has been fixed. Just at that time, President Kufuor secured another tranche of EU grant, equivalent of US$73 million, to continue to Ayanfuri in 2009 when his administration left office”.

Rural Electrification
Mr Boahene Aidoo mentioned that it is on record that the all-time single largest rural electrification project ever to have happened in Ghana was initiated by President Kufuor's erstwhile administration in 2006.

He indicated that the initiative was known as the 'WELDY LEMONT' Project, which was to benefit close to 3,000 communities across the country.

He alleged that hitherto, the number of beneficiary communities in any single electrification project in Ghana was in the tens and hundreds but never in the thousands.

“So if today the national coverage of electrification has increased from 58 percentage points to 80.5, the giant contribution of former President Kufuor to rural electrification should in no way be glossed over or taken out”, he added.

He averred, “Ghanaians must be told the truth, and I dare say that President Mahama cannot reap where he has not sown”.

From Emmanuel Opoku Takoradi