Addressing the press at the maiden edition of the NDC’s Weekly Press Briefing, the Minority Chief Whip Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka said after assuming office for nearly four years, and despite getting the most resources as President in the history of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo has very little to show for his flagship promise of a million dollars, a year, per constituency.
The Asawase MP said three and half years into its administration, the government, which owes every constituency four million dollars each, as a result of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s promise, has only a few toilets, warehouses, markets mechanised water systems, ambulances and sub-standard dugouts to show.
“It is instructive to note that per the one million dollars every year per constituency promise of President Akufo-Addo, each constituency should have received a total of US$3 million, which leads to a total of US$825 million by now (excluding that of the year 2020), or benefitted from development projects equivalent to that amount by now,” he added.
Alhaji Muntaka said however that per the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives’ own data submitted to Parliament in the 2020 Budget Statement, the total cost of capital expenditure projects undertaken so far under the one million dollars per constituency promise from 2017 – 2019 is a paltry GH¢462,979,103, equivalent to just US$81 million.
The amount spent so far, Alhaji Muntaka indicated, represents just a meager 9.8 percent of the total of US$825 million that the government was supposed to have released by now in fulfillment of its promise to give every constituency one million dollars every year.
While pointing out that the amount spent so far “includes the expenditure on 200 sub-standard dugouts in the northern parts of the country”, he noted that the project costs have not only been inflated but also Members of Parliament have been sidelined in the choice and execution of development projects in their respective constituencies and the disbursement of funds for same.
He also opined that, the entire amount of $US81 million which has so far been spent on the one million dollars, per constituency promise, is far less than just what the Community Water and Sanitation Agency under the Ministry for Works and Housing did under the erstwhile NDC-Mahama regime.
