Anti-corruption group, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) is demanding the prosecution of all public officials and managers of Smartty’s Productions for their roles in the bus-branding saga.

The Executive Secretary of GII, Vitus Azeem said in an interview with Joy News that it is not enough for government to just recover the money.

 “The public procurement act prescribes sanctions for people who contravene the act…not just the company itself but also the public officials who were involved in the procurement,” he stated.

An amount of GH Ȼ3.6 million of oil funds used for the rebranding of Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses generated controversy in Parliament after the Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, raised some questions over the expenditure.

A pro-former invoice dated 17^th July, 2015 and signed by the Accounts Officer of Smarttys Management and Productions and copied the Ministry of Transport; put the total cost of branding one bus at a È» 30,420.00.

After a probe ordered by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah into the deal, the Attorney General (AG) was directed to recover excess payment of È»1.9million for the rebranding of 116 buses from Smarttys.

Consultations made by the AG with some leading motor firms confirmed that the contract could have been executed at a cheaper cost if other bids were considered.

The Minister of Transport, Dzifa Attivor, resigned from her post as minister due to the issues surrounding the branding.

Lawyers for the company have reached an agreement with the AG to refund the excess payment by the end of March 2016.

According to reports, a payment schedule submitted by lawyers for Smarttys confirmed that the payments would be made in three installments, with the first installment to be paid by the end of January.

But the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative tells Joy News the repayment must be done in full.

“What the company has said is not enough…why should they determine how long they want to pay back the money. Is it a loan that government has granted to the company?” Vitus quizzed.

According to him, the lawyers of Smarttys do not have the 'authority' to make a choice on how they want to pay the money back to government and when they want to.

He charged government to sit up on this case if it wants to count this case as one of its anti-corruption actions.

“I think that government needs to sit up if they want to show us that they have taken serious action on this…if they want to count this as one of their anti-corruption efforts that they have decided to carry out in the country,” he added.