The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Marietta Brew-Oppong, has told Ultimate Radio her outfit is working in collaboration with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority, SADA, to terminate contracts it entered into with Asongtaba Cottage Industries.
President Mahama in January 2014 instructed the SADA Board to work in collaboration with the Attorney General’s Department to terminate two contracts it entered into with the Asongtaba Cottage Industry; specifically the Guinea fowl rearing and afforestation project in the northern parts of Ghana.
Government sunk an amount of GH¢32 million into the tree planting project while the Guinea fowl project cost an additional GH¢15million. However, it was discovered several years after the contract was signed and the amount disbursed, that nothing concrete had been achieved.
Two months after the directive was released, however, several questions have come up as to how far those instructions given by the President have been carried out. But in an interview with Ultimate Radio’s Ebenezer Afanyi Dardzie, Attorney General Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong said the Ministry has begun working with the SADA Board to carry out the president’s directive.
“I can just assure you that it is being looked at very keenly. We have met with the management of SADA and there are several meetings that we are going to hold, but until all that is done, I don’t think I can come and tell you the process by which we are implementing the president’s directives. But we are working on it and at the appropriate time when matters are brought to a close we will let the public know,” she divulged.
In the statement that ordered the termination of the contracts, and signed by the Senior Communications Advisor to the President, Ben Dotse Malor, it was stated that while the presidency acknowledged the viability of the projects, it believes the necessary systems had not been put in place.
The presidency further requested the “SADA Board to hold consultations with the Forestry Commission and the Ministry of Local Government to work out a strategy for the proper implementation of the afforestation and tree growing project on a decentralized basis.
Source: GhanaWeb
