The Former Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Baba Jamal has described the Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia’s questioning of the $13.9 million Veeps residence as, “too abrupt” and “ill-intended”.
According to him, Bawumia ought to have been fully furnished with the details of the project before going public.
The revelation of the cost of the mansion was made public by the Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia during a speech at the Launch of the ‘Good Corporate Governance Initiative’ at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, Tuesday.
The Veep, who was seemingly worried, questioned whether the residence was going to be built with gold materials to have warranted such a price tag.
In his view, Baba Jamal said several considerations like security and other installations might have been factored into the cost of the residence and could underpin the speculated amount. He also added that no one is better placed to comment on the building until the components are understood.
“I think that the vice president must know that he is no longer on the campaign trail. He should know that he is the vice president and cannot be making statements like these on any platform. Even if there is a problem with the cost of the residence he must fix it and stop the emotional tinkling,” honourable Baba Jamal acknowledged.
Discussing the cost of the building on ‘State of Affairs’ hosted by Nana Aba Anamoah on GhOne TV, Mr. Kweku Segbefia, a member of Occupy Ghana noted that the vice President did no mistake by questioning the cost of the vice presidential residence.
“It is within the Veep’s right to choose what he want to say and where to say it. He commented on it because he was surprised at the cost.” Segbefia explained.
In line with the cost of the residence, Mr. Segbefia recognised that the sole sourcing procedure used for the contract was abused and that sole sourcing ought to have been the last resort. He also proposed a review of the contract.
But Hon. Baba Jamal disagreed with his position and pointed out that there was nothing wrong with the sole sourcing agreement. According to him, in sole sourcing, the company that wins the bid is mostly the only entity that has the expertise to execute the proposed contract.
However, he was worried that the Veep’s interrogation of the building has a created a wrong impression in the minds of Ghanaians about the previous government and emphasised the need for the vice President to have gone public after a conclusive investigation.’
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