The Minister for Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea has indicated that investigations have commenced with regard to allegations of inflation of the cost of the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.
Atta Akyea says the Ghana Institution of Surveyors has submitted its audit report on the Saglemi Housing project and his Ministry has forwarded the findings to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for action.
Speaking to Citi News, the Abuakwa South MP said his predecessor, Collins Dauda and other officials of the Ministry cited in the report have in the past few months been reporting to the CID to assist in investigations.
“All those people who were involved in Saglemi, are being invited. Even people working in my Ministry, they have started inviting them and investigations are ongoing and let’s leave the police do its work. There is no propaganda or party issues about theft,” he said.
Samuel Atta Akyea said the law will be firmly applied and no political consideration will be given to anyone found culpable.
In 2018, the Minister wrote to the Attorney General to look into the $180 million project.
In 2019, Mr. Akyea suggested there was an ongoing investigation into the project.
Mr. Akyea had accused a former Works and Housing Minister, Collins Dauda, of altering the original agreement for the Saglemi housing project without recourse to Parliament.
He claimed that after Parliament passed the agreement in October 2012 for the construction of 5,000 housing units, the then Minister reviewed the contract scaling down the number of units to some 1,500 units and later to 1,024 units after another review in 2016.
The first phase of the project, with 1,500 housing units, which was commissioned by John Mahama in 2016 have been left unused.
The project, which was intended to reduce the country’s massive housing deficit is seated on a 300-acre land with one to three-bedroom apartments for low-income earners.
