Minority exposes BOST for allegedly inflating US$39million twin tower office contract to $78million

Member of Parliament for Yapei-Kusawgu constituency, John Abdulai Jinapor has accused the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) of misappropriation of state funds.

He said BOST has inflated a contract sum meant for the construction of a twin tower office by 100%.

In a press statement on July 28 sighted by ModernGhana News, Mr. Jinapor who is a ranking member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament alleged that the new leadership of BOST has inflated US$39 million meant for the construction of a twin tower office building to US$78 million, double of the contract sum.

Mr. Jinapor indicated that, before the former CEO of BOST, Kwame Awuah Darko was ousted he began the process of constructing an ultra-modern twin tower office to serve as an office accommodation and enhance the generation of funds in 2015.

According to him, the contract sum for the twin tower office was US$39 million at the time.

However, Mr. Jinapor asserts that documents made available prove that the contract sum has been padded and stands at a staggering $78 million if a twin tower office is constructed.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, you may be aware that the Bulk Oil and Transportation Company (BOST) under the able leadership of Mr. Kwame Awuah Darko commenced the process of constructing an ultra-modern twin tower office in the year 2015 to serve as office accommodation and to enhance internally generated funds to augment the cash flow of the BOST.

“We have however noted from recent developments based on documents available to us that the original contract which was valued at $39,000,000.00 (Thirty-Nine Million Dollars) ballooned to a whopping $78,000,000.00, if the two-tower building is accounted for based on the current cost of the single unit valued at $39,000,000.00 (Thirty-Nine Million Dollars). This means the building has been inflated by 100% over the original contract.

"We say so because we have noted that the current Management of BOST decided to acquire only one of the twin unit building due to the precarious financial position of the company, however it applied to the Public Procurement Authority for approval to vary the original contract for the single unit from the original price of $19,500,000.00 per unit to a new cost of $24,000,000.00,” he revealed.

Mr. Jinapor further alleges that the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) approved the inflated contract to a sum even from $24million to $39 million more for a single unit when BOST could have constructed the twin tower building at the same cost.

He asserted that the energy sector had become “a pollution haven for regularized corruption, inflated favouritism, and rusted nepotism."

The minority is therefore calling on government to open an independent investigation into the matter and punish those found culpable in creating such a problem.

Read full statement below:

Press Statement

28^th July, 2022

FRESH SCANDAL AT BOST

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, permit me to use this opportunity to thank you for honouring this invitation.

We have invited you today once again on very serious and grave issues of national interest emanating from Ghana’s energy sector under the Akuffo-Addo/Bawumiah Government.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, you may be aware that the Bulk Oil and Transportation Company (BOST) under the able leadership of Mr. Kwame Awuah Darko commenced the process of constructing an ultra-modern twin tower office in the year 2015 to serve as office accommodation and to enhance internally generated funds to augment the cash flow of the BOST.

However, the Akuffo-Addo/Bawumia newly constituted management of BOST that assumed office falsely accused Mr. Awuah Darko of inflating and padding the contract and as a result suspended the project.

Characteristic of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumiah government, Mr. Awuah Darko and several government appointees of the erstwhile Mahama administration were subjected to thorough and detailed investigations by the Economic and Organized Crime Unit (EOCO), which of cause is nothing but witch-hunting and whitewashing.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is worthy to mention that not only was Mr. Awuah Darko exonerated of any wrongdoing by the EOCO investigations, but it was also established that the contract met all the necessary ingredients of value for money.

We have however noted from recent developments based on documents available to us that the original contract which was valued at $39,000,000.00 (Thirty-Nine Million Dollars) ballooned to a whopping $78,000,000.00, if the two-tower building is accounted for based on the current cost of the single unit valued at $39,000,000.00 (Thirty-Nine Million Dollars). This means the building has been inflated by 100% over the original contract.

We say so because we have noted that the current Management of BOST decided to acquire only one of the twin unit building due to the precarious financial position of the company, however it applied to the Public Procurement Authority for approval to vary the original contract for the single unit from the original price of $19,500,000.00 per unit to a new cost of $24,000,000.00,

Members of the press, fellow Ghanaians, to our utmost shock and dismay, but of cause as usual of this government, the PPA without any reasonable justification in granting the approval hiked the contract sum to an inflated figure of $39,000,000.00 (Thirty-Nine Million United Sates Dollars) for a single unit when BOST could have originally constructed the twin-tower office at the original price of $39,000,000.00.

We are firm in our conviction that this is a classic case of causing financial loss to the state. This is another PDS, Ameri and Movinpinnna scandal in the making. The Energy sector under the current NPP administration has become a Pollution Haven for regularized corruption, inflated favouritism, and rusted nepotism.

How come a twin-tower office complex originally awarded at a cost of $39,000,000.00 has now metamorphosed into a colossal figure of $78,000,000.00 based on the current cost of the single unit is mind boggling. Why would the PPA vary the request for approval from BOST for the purchase of the single unit building from $24,000,000.00 to an inflated figure of $39,000,000.00? Who are the people behind this outrageous deal?

From the foregoing, it is obvious some officials are culpable and neck deep in this huge scandal. We do not have any confidence in the Akufo-Addo led Government as far as resolving this conundrum is concerned. Officialdom has demonstrated a lack of professionalism and competence in this whole debacle, as BOST has been converted into one of the milking cows.

It is our hope that for the first time, the President will gather courage to cause and independent investigation into this scandal which is of monumental proportion and punish his officials whose negligence, recklessness and complicity has led us into this huge mess.

We, the Minority in Parliament, hereby serve notice that anything short of an independent investigation shall be rejected and denounced by the NDC and the good people of Ghana. We shall remain vigilant and resolute in our quest to ensure that the continuous looting and plundering of the resources of BOST which is our collective strategic national asset is brought to an immediate halt.

Thank you.

Hon. John Abdulai Jinapor (MP)

(Yapei-Kusawgu Constituency)

Ranking Member, Mines and Energy Committee