AG releases bus branding documents to Occupy Ghana

The branded buses

Pressure group, Occupy Ghana has said it has received the investigative report covering the controversial GHc3.5 million bus rebranding deal executed by Smartty’s Management and Production Limited.

The group, after several efforts to retrieve the report failed, dragged the Attorney General to court to have their demands met.

A statement from Occupy Ghana said the 22-page document was “sworn to by one Lawrence Kumi, Director of Research at the Ministry of Transport.”

Occupy Ghana further noted that the Attorney General had refused to release the report it furnished the office of the Chief of Staff saying “she considered that as confidential and privileged.”

“While we waited for our action to be heard, we received word from the Honourable Attorney-General that she would make the documents available to us. True to her word, by an Affidavit dated 26th April 2016, filed on 28th April 2016 and sworn to by one Lawrence Kumi, Director of Research at the Ministry of Transport, the Honourable Attorney-General has delivered to us, documents relating to the Transaction, except one,” the statement added.

The group also said they will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion if they find out the AG erred or did anything illegal after studying the documents.

“We have delivered these documents to our legal and audit teams for their review and advice. We will keep Ghanaians appraised and updated with the findings of our legal and audit teams, and as we have promised, should we find that any laws were broken or anything was done that was illegal, wrong or untoward, Occupy Ghana will pursue the matter to its logical and legal conclusions,” the statement added.

Prior to Occupy Ghana’s court action, another pressure group, Citizen Ghana Movement had sued the AG to demand full disclosure on the matter.

Following the suit, an Accra High Court on April 13, 2016 ordered government to make the documents available to the group.

Background

Government’s decision to spend GHc3.6 million of Ghana’s oil revenue on branding some 116 Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses has been widely criticized and described as reckless. The scandal compelled the Transport Minister, Dzifa Attivor to resign after a massive public outcry.

The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, subsequently ordered the Attorney General to investigate the matter after which Smarttys was ordered to refund the excess payments made.

Meanwhile a leaked Attorney General’s investigation report suggests that the contract with Smarttys was commenced and concluded long before the procurement process started; a conduct that violated the nation’s procurement laws.

Smarttys after the report was asked to refund GHc1.5 million to the state.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana