The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has likened the controversial Kelni GVG contract, which is otherwise known as the common monitoring platform, to the award-winning Netflix series, Money Heist.
According to the main opposition party, the deal which was signed to develop and implement a common platform for monitoring mobile phone traffic and corresponding revenue in Ghana is a perfect real-life representation of the Money Heist.
Speaking at the 7th edition of NDC’s Moment of Truth series, the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram constituency, Sam George, indicated that the movie which portrays one of the biggest robberies ever recorded in history is what the Akufo-Addo-led administration seeks to do with the Kelni GVG contract.
He said, “For those of you familiar with the Netflix series Money Heist…Kelni GVG is Ghana’s version of Money Heist. It is a clear calculated attempt to fleece the tax payer to the tune of $90 million over a five-year period, with another $90 million for an extension of five years. Which means that over the next ten years, the Ghanaian tax payer is going to cough up a whopping $180 million.”
Adding that the amount is equivalent to the entire cost of the Kasoa interchange, the entire ridge hospital, 113 E-blocks.
The MP also alleged that the NPP government has set out to milk the nation dry by giving out the contract to a company which, prior to the deal, was involved in the importation of canned tomatoes.
“…All of this money is going into the hands of a company that until the time they were awarded the contract for Kelni GVG, when you take their registration document at the Registrar General their line of business was the sale and import of tin tomatoes,” he stated.
Kelni-GVG deal signed by the Government of Ghana and Haitian ICT firm, Kelni GVG, has come under a lot of scrutiny, particularly from policy think tank, IMANI Africa.
In 2018, the group accused the Communications Ministry headed by Ursula Owusu-Ekuful of engaging in a fraudulent act solely to ‘rape’ the country with the award of a 10-year contract worth $178 million to Kelni-GVG.
The group released a report titled “How Ministry of Communications raped Ghana through the Kelni-GVG sham” which raised issues surrounding the deal giving key problems with the entire process that led to the award of the contract by showing the chronology, the procedures adopted by the ministry, the evaluation of tenders and the final outcome of the contract,
