SADA Rot: Govt Is Sabotaging Parliament � MP Asserts
Efforts by the legislator to meticulously examine government agencies that entered into dubious contracts are hitting a snag due to government�s undue interference, Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Alex Afenyo-Markin has implied.
Picking on the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) specifically, he averred that �government is not allowing Parliament to scrutinize the activities of SADA�.
The MP�s comments followed Joy News� investigations, which uncovered alleged financial malfeasance of various degrees at SADA.
In the first of a series of investigations titled the Sad SADA Story, Manasseh Azure Awuni reports of a murky investment deal of GH�74.5 million by the authority.
Reacting on the expos�, Afenyo-Markin, who is a member of the Parliament Finance Committee told Joy FM�s Top Story on Monday that the discovery does not come to him as a surprise.
�This explains why SADA could not supply the Finance Committee with any of the information requested,� he recalled.
He said even though SADA is executing �laudable� projects, he suggested companies that overly benefited from these projects are being �protected� by the government, which has provided them a leeway to escape accountability.
Such ignoble contracts have denied the people of the north their fair share of development, Afenyo-Markin stated.
He further revealed that issues such as that of SADA that need thorough scrutiny, have regrettably been reduced to partisanship.
As a Member of Parliament in the opposition, he said, his attempts to ensure that the nation gets value for money have been misconstrued as he �wanting to embarrass government�.
He is, therefore, prevailing on the Chairman of the Finance Committee to invite Chief Executive of SADA or the sector minister to appear before the Committee to be interrogated.