Wednesday 12 September 2012

Ghana: IMANI calling on Parliament to recall a report on US$77.3 million housing deal

 
IMANI is also calling on Parliament to recall a report on a US$77.3 million housing deal with the Snecou Group that was laid before the House for adoption last week.

Executive Director, Franklin Cudjoe, has called for the deal to be returned to the Housing Ministry to ensure due diligence is done before its adoption. In a statement he maintains that Nigeria's Snecou, which is partnering the State Housing Company to build 1,000 housing units for the security services, is insufficiently credible to undertake such a project. Snecou and its chairman, Prince Ukachukwu, has been cited for numerous corruption-related controversies and inquiries in Nigeria.

“Clearly, the average cost of unit (US$77,000) is exorbitant in this scheme of things. In cost terms, the deal is worse than the STX one,” IMANI said of the deal. IMANI went on to refer to an October 2010 ruling by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which indicted Ukachukwu for using four of his companies to embezzle US$40 million of public funds belonging to Nasawara State.

Snecou Group has condemned what it says it IMANI Ghana's attempt to discredit it. The Group's General Manager, Daniel Nwokedi, denied the charges on local radio, explaining that his company had not been able to complete certain projects due to the political climate in Nigeria.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2012 Menas Associates

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