Joyce Bawa Mogtari chides gov't for taking credit for KIA terminal project

The Akufo-Addo government must acknowledge John Mahama and stop playing politics with the new Terminal 3 project at the Kotoka International Airport, former Transport Minister, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, has said.

According to her, the New Patriotic Party government is exhibiting a “morbid fear” to acknowledge the actual source of the project.

In a statement released ahead of the inauguration of the terminal for use, Madam Mogtari said the current government has deliberately set out to discredit Mahama by peddling lies.

She, therefore, accused the government of playing politics with the new terminal, likening it to the handling of the 650-bed University of Ghana Medical Centre project.

“The government of Nana Akufo-Addo has begun rather sadly, an unfortunate attempt to rundown the project and spread false claims against the initiator of the project, John Mahama,” she wrote.

Madam Mogtari, who also speaks for the former President, said some persons in government are “busy spreading false information that the project cost was high, and could have been done for less.”

“For example, in throwing the figures around, they will never tell you that the new terminal, now referred to by some as the Mahama Terminal, was funded with a syndicated loan facility, secured solely on the books of the Ghana Airport Company Limited, which will be responsible for repaying the facility and not central government,” she explained.

Joyce Bawah Mogtari, spokesperson for former president Mahama. Source: Event PR.
Below are portions of her statement;

THE FACTS

1. Airports and specialized facilities are not comparable across board like simple commodities (oranges and bananas). The cost of such projects depends on many variables such as scope, materials, size and the standard that one needs.
2. The Terminal 3 project followed ALL the international tender procedures, including value for money justification.
3. The commercial banks and institutional investors such as the African Development Bank (AfDB) undertook exhaustive due diligence before committing to fund the project. These organisations will never assess a project, find them to be overpriced and still go ahead to fund the project. Never!
4. The support and endorsement of financing institutions such as AfDB, AFC, DBSA, Stanchart and Qatar National Bank who agreed to fund the project should indicate to all concerned folks that it is a good project.
My point is that it is a non-starter to attempt to compare project costs without reference to the scopes and bills of quantities, and all the relevant contracts and conditions.
So instead of folding your arms and being a “political quantity surveyor” why not stop the talk-shop and actually do something to improve the lives of the struggling masses of Ghanaian?
By Joyce Bawah Mogtari
Former Deputy Minister for Transport
24/07/2018