No accountability, no loans for MMT – Appiah-Ofori charges

Paul Collins Appiah-Ofori         Anti-corruption crusader PC Appiah-Ofori has urged his colleagues in Parliament to reject a proposal to purchase 50 new buses for the Metro Mass Transit Company (MMT). The buses are to augment the company’s fleet, but Mr. Appiah-Ofori kicked against it, arguing that the company has refused to account for the numerous buses purchased for them under the Kufuor administration, and would therefore be imprudent for the government to incur more debts on its behalf. The government had on Tuesday sought the approval of the legislators for funds to buy 50 news buse for the company. “So far as I am concerned, unless they bring their audited accounts for the period they have operated, unless they bring their cash flow statement, and unless they bring amortization schedule showing how they would be able to pay the loan. By the end of the tenure of the loan we should not entertain it,” the MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa declared. Expatiating on his call for the rejection, Mr Appiah-Ofori said in 2003 the then NPP government brought a request to Parliament for a loan approval for the purchase of 150 buses for MMT and it was approved. Subsequently, another approval was made in 2006 for 50 buses, but there has not been any accountability from the company. He stressed that if the company was not made to account for the loans, it would be incumbent on the government to take money from the Consolidated Fund to pay the loans. “We should not sit down unconcerned for inefficiency [to creep into the activities of local companies], for people to misappropriate state funds still, and at the end of the day it becomes a debt for government to pay,” he charged on his colleague legislators. Meanwhile, a decision on the motion has been deferred. Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana