Kufuor, JJ Under Pressure To Reject GH¢3.6M Bus Branding

Jerry John Rawlings, Selassie Ibrahim and John Agyekum Kufuor

A group of Ghanaians have petitioned former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor over the posting of their pictures on the newly acquired Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses which branding has caused a major stir in the country. They have asked them to cause the removal of their pictures from the 116 vehicles.

The group said in a statement that it considers the money spent on posting pictures on the buses a wasteful expenditure.

It follows revelations that the cost involved in the branding of the 116 buses with portraits of former Presidents Rawlings, Kufuor, Mills and incumbent John Mahama – which was said to have cost over GH¢31,420 per bus – had been highly inflated by government to GH¢3.6 million (on the 116 buses).

In a petition dated December 21, 2015, the group – Concerned Ghanaians (CG) – stated, “We believe that you will consider it profligate, as we do, that government spent a whopping GH¢3.6 million on this hubristic exercise.

“In the midst of our current economic problems as a nation which caused the president to admonish Ghanaians to tighten their belts, we find that it is a wasteful expenditure to paste pictures of former presidents, including the current president, on these 116 buses at an individual cost of GH¢31,000.” The statement was jointly signed by Lawyer Akwasi Twumasi Ankra, Goodfellow Ofei Dei and Atick Yakubu.

Manager of Crystal Concept, Kwaku Mensah Abeiku, whose company was subcontracted by Smarttys Management and Productions, owned by Selassie Ibrahim, an NDC activist, to rebrand the buses, indicated that his company charged GHȼ11,600 as cost for the rebranding of all the 116 buses and not GH¢3.6 million, exposing an over-inflated contract.

According to Abeiku, he charged GH¢100 per bus, summing up to GH¢11,600 and accused the Manager of Smarttys, Selassie Ibrahim, of ripping off the state.

Minority Members of Parliament (MPs) and other Ghanaians have raised issues with the cost of branding the vehicles and have compelled Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, to institute a probe into the scandal.

The Attorney General has up to today to make a statement of the highly inflated and vexatious branding.

In that regard, leadership of Concerned Ghanaians told the former leaders, “Knowing the good values of prudent financial management and good governance which you ascribe to, we are left with no doubt in our minds that you do not approve of such an expenditure as well as the idea of placing your images on these buses.

“We are thus humbly appealing to your good conscience to direct that your images be taken off those buses.”

It added, “We, together with the growing number of online signatories to this petition, shall remain eternally grateful to you if you could grant us our petition.”

Several Ghanaians have already started signing on to a petition on Facebook – a social media platform – with former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, welcoming the decision.

On December 19, 2015 when the group first hinted of their decision to petition the two former presidents on their Facebook wall, she posted on her Facebook page, 'Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings 2016': “We welcome the petition from Concerned Ghanaians to Ex-Presidents Rawlings and Kufuor to ask John Mahama to remove their pictures from the MMT buses. This waste should only be the hall of shame for Mahama.”

Rawlings Responds
Former President Rawlings, in his response, acknowledged the petition, indicating his willingness to act.

Aide to Mr Rawlings, Kobina Andoh, told myjoyonline.com he (Rawlings) was aware of the petition but he would act only after the Attorney General had released findings from a probe into the deal.

The probe was initiated by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah.

“His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings has duly noted the concerns raised but responds that he will await the investigative report of the Attorney General as per the directives of the Presidency, after which he will advise himself accordingly,” he said.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu