A law lecturer at the Central University is upset over the decision by ex-president John Mahama and his government to sink a whopping $14 million into a second vice presidential villa.
Yaw Oppong believes the decision was needless and could only have been taken as a result of a rent-seeking behavior by the ex-president.
“My own view doesn’t have to do with the cost. It has to do with what I call rent-seeking behavior. Build a new house for the vice president so I can keep what I am in.
“This is so needless. If the ex-president had vacated the vice presidential building we wouldn’t have had the need and the need has been put there because he wanted to keep this one. If that conception had not been construed by the ex-president and his government we would have had $13.9 million,” he said on Joy FM’s Newsfile program, Saturday.
He was reacting to a document by the AESL, which suggests that Vice president Dr Mahamadu Bawumia’s claim that the John Mahama led NDC invested close to $14 million in the vice presidential villa.
The NDC had denied the claim saying only $5.9million had been invested in the project and not 13.9 million as Dr Bawumia would have the world believe. But during a discussion on Newsfile Saturday, the Director of Communications of the NPP Nana Akomea provided what he said was documentary evidence covering the cost and details of the project.
According to the AESL document the total cost of the project was $13,968,252. A total of 8,179,138 had already been paid for the project leaving an arrears of 5,789,113 left to be paid.
The details of the project have left many shock waves in the minds of some Ghanaians.
Discussing the matter on Newsfile, the law lecturer believes the project is a drain on the country’s meager resources and a quicker a decision is made about it the better for the country.
“Why do we need $13.9 million to build another villa ? Lawyer Oppong asked. The NDC MP for Bolga Central Isaac Adongo who was also on the show said he is not privy to the details of the vice presidential villa but was suspicious of the document provided by the Nana Akomea.
He said the documents did not contain some of the basic information needed for a project like that.
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