Audio By Carbonatix
Aide to flag bearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Samuel Abu Jinapor says the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) may repeat the mistakes which have brought the implementation of the STX housing deal to an abrupt end.
The STX housing project valued at 10 billion dollars and aimed at decreasing the country’s housing deficit according to Abu Jinapor stalled because government failed to do due diligence to the loan agreement.
The Minority in Parliament who abstained from the approval of the STX housing deal have once again raised red flags about the $3 billion loan facility from China.
At a press conference on Tuesday September 27, 2011 in Accra, the minority argued that government has breached an IMF conditionality that limits the amount of money the country could borrow this year.
But President J.E.A Mills in a quick rebuttal could not fathom why a spin is being put on the $3bn loan facility Ghana is accessing from China, adding that the World Bank is supportive of the country’s initiative to seek assistance from the Chinese for infrastructural development.
However, Abu Jinapor a panelist on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Wednesday advised the Mills-led administration to interrogate the legitimate concerns raised by the minority rather than damning them.
“I believe it is about time that government takes a break and reflect on the concerns being raised by the NPP” he added.
He noted that the Mills-led government must learn some lessons from the STX deal and correct the ambiguities in the $ 3 billion loan facility.
Contrary to claims by President Mills that the World Bank support the $3billion loan facility, Abu Jinapor revealed that in a letter dated September 8, 2011, to the Finance Minister Dr.Kwabena Duffour, the World Bank expressed concerns about the acquisition of the loan.
He said per the president’s comments, there are more grounds to believe that he (Mills) is not on top of issues.
“The president is almost confirming the widely held perception that the president is not in charge of his government and is not in charge of the happenings within his government or perhaps it is rather the president who is putting a spin on what indeed is the reality on the ground”.
Abu Jinapor stressed NPP’s commitment to support the effort by the NDC to build infrastructures across the country only if the necessary agreement of the projects are transparent and devoid of corruption.
He was appalled at how the ruling party keeps raising the expectations of Ghanaians when they have not even fulfilled the many promise they made prior to the 2008 general elections.
“Government should learn from its mistakes; government should learn how to manage expectations, government should make promises that they can fulfill. Almost all the promises they made prior to the 2008 elections, they have not been able to fulfill them” he bemoaned.
On the contrary, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a member of the Communications team of the NDC and co-panelist on the programme said he is not surprised at the stance taken by the opposition party.
He observed that the NPP’s track record of opposing major infrastructural developmental projects in the country dates back to the day of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah when he decided to build the Akosombo dam.
Felix Kwakye Ofosu urged the NPP to be clear with the facts rather than seeking to score cheap political points in their bid to unseat the NDC government in the 2012 general elections.
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