Kufuor’s claims over Keta Sea Defence project ‘false’ – Ahi

Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Sampson Ahi, has waded into the debate over the development record of the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Volta Region, claiming former President Kufuor’s claims about the Keta Sea Defence project are false.

Mr. Ahi’s comment is in response to Mr. Kufuor’s claims that his administration carried out the Keta Sea Defence project among others in the region between 2001 and 2008.

He further noted that the NDC administration he took over from at the time, had squandered money meant for the project.

President Mahama recently accused the NPP of sidelining the Volta Region in the execution of infrastructural projects.

The President strongly defended the record of the NDC in the Volta Region, saying that the party was responsible for all the massive projects that the region has seen since the inception of the fourth republic.

But in his defense of the NPP’s record in the Volta Region, former president Kufuor accused the NDC of squandering money meant for the Keta Sea Defense Project which stood at almost $100 million in three phases.

Sampson Ahi revealed that the NPP government handled most of the funds secured for the Keta Sea Defence Project but indicated that they are yet to give proper account for it.

Speaking to Citi News, Sampson Ahi said the former President may have been misinformed or that he is not privy to the accurate information on the project hence his claims.

The Deputy Minister explained that the genesis of the Keta Sea Defence Project could be traced to 1995 when the then Rawlings administration secured 93 million dollars from the EXIM bank of the US.

He said although the project was completed by President Kufuor, the NPP administration did not raise the funding for the project which started in 1999.

Mr. Ahi further insisted that the NPP had questions to answer on the sea defence project because it used 84 million dollars out of the 93 million dollars secured for the project without accounting for the rest of the money.

“We should find out from former President Kufuor why we would take a loan of 93.8 million but we ended up spending 84 million dollars. Where did the difference go to? They have to rather answer this.The money was spent by President Kufuor’s government. He should tell us where he went and secured the funding from apart from the one that the NDC government under president Rawlings secured from the US EXIM bank.

By-afroholic”