The death of the contractor who executed the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project would not affect prosecution’s case, a deputy Attorney-General, Alfred Tuah Yeboah, has said.

The contractor, Andrew Clocanas, reportedly died at his Airport Residential Apartment in October 2023.

He was standing trial with former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Collins Dauda, and three others over the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.

Speaking to the media, the deputy A-G explained that the contractor’s death would not affect the substance of the case, hence the trial would proceed.

Court questions how Collins Dauda was able to travel outside Ghana while his passport was supposed to be in court custody

Meanwhile, when the case was called on Monday at the court presided over by Justice Dr Ernest Owusu-Dapaa, Collins Dauda was absent.

Asked why his client was absent, Thaddeus Sory, told the court that Collins Duada had received an emergency invitation to attend a pan African conference in South Africa as part of parliamentary duties adding that his absence was not deliberate.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, wondered why the accused, whose passport has been deposited at the court registry as part of bail conditions, travelled without a passport.

The court asked counsel how his client was able to travel without a passport but in his response, Mr Sory noted that he had filed an application for the accused to have access to his passport.

“The notice came to him impromptu and he instructed us to make the application but apparently travel arrangements had been made and were required to leave before the hearing of the application,” he added.

Counsel therefore, withdrew the application.

The first prosecution witness, Rev Stephen Yaw Osei, the Acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Works and Housing mounted the witness box on Monday [Nov 20, 2023].

He is expected to read his witness statement to the court and would be cross-examined on Tuesday, November 21.

Not guilty

Collins Dauda, who is also the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Asutifi South in the Ahafo Region, is standing trial with his successor, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah; the Chief Director at the Ministry from 2009 to 2017, Alhaji Ziblim Yakubu and a director of RMS, the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) consultancy subcontractor, Nouvi Tetteh Angelo.

The accused persons, who are currently on bail, have pleaded not guilty to 72 counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, misapplying public property, issuing false certificates and dishonestly causing loss to public property.