Saglemi Housing Project: Atta Akyea has caused financial loss to the state – Kofi Akpaloo

The Leader and Founder of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Kofi Akpaloo, has added his voice to the current conversation around the Saglemi Housing Project, as he states that the former Minister of Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea caused more harm than good in connection to the housing project.

According to him, the former minister failing to prosecute people who were alleged to have been involved in bribery and corruption, leading to the non-completion of this project, has caused financial loss to the state.

Kofi Akpaloo shared these thoughts on Happy FM’s ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show hosted by Don Prah.

“Honestly Speaking, Atta Akyea has contributed to woefully causing financial loss to the state. For him to keep the property at that stage and abandon it without completing it was not right. Anyone who was also involved in bribery and corruption should have been sent to court, then the engineers should have been allowed to estimate the necessary things for completion. But here is the case you couldn’t even arrest anybody and now the country will bear the cost," he said.

"If the housing units were renovated or worked on, by now we would have been taking rent from people living in them and we will be able to pay the debt. So, it is a loss to the state”, he added.

The politician noted that while he was not calling for Atta Akyea’s prosecution, he wanted to make it clear that the former minister shares part of the blame in the Saglemi Housing Project saga.

“I am not calling for his prosecution but I think he caused financial loss to the state. He has done more harm than good. He should have prosecuted those people and by now some soldiers, nurses or policeman will be occupying the rooms”, he added.

The Ministry of Works and Housing has said it will require about US$32 million to complete the abandoned 5,000-unit Saglemi housing project started by the previous government.

It said a technical audit by the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GIS) of the project, which initially had an output target of 5,000 units at a total cost of US$200 million, had estimated that additional funds would be required for its completion.

Meanwhile, in April last year, the former Minister of Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea, revealed that Government will complete 1500 units of the Saglemi Affordable Housing Projects by December 7.

Samuel Atta Akyea stated that he was committed to ensuring the homes are completed after the completion of an audit into the alleged misappropriation of funds by the opposition NDC.