Kweku Baako: Bus Rebranding Report "Not A Classified Document"...Publish It!

Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Kweku Baako has requested a public disclosure of a report on the controversial Metro Mass Transit rebranding saga.

Speaking on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, he bemoaned government's inability to publish the content of the report saying "the failure to respond is a deficit in terms of our good governance credentials."

According to him, several civil society groups raised red flags over the government's dealing with Smarttys, the company contracted to rebrand the buses.

Government was lambasted for awarding a contract to Smarttys to rebrand 116 Public Transport buses which resulted in a whopping amount of GHC 3.6 million of oil revenue being expended on the exercise.

Following public outcry, the Chief of Staff Julius Debrah charged the Attorney General to investigate the issue after the expenditure was described as reckless and profligate by the public and civil society organisations.

Smarttys was asked to refund GH₵1.9 million [revised down to GH₵1.5million] in three installments to the Government of Ghana but the report is still being kept under wraps.

Pressure group Occupy Ghana, has threatened to sue the Attorney General after the group was denied information relating to the matter.

Addressing the issue on Kokrokoo, Kweku Baako questioned the A-G's reluctance to heed to Occupy Ghana’s call for the report to be made public. To him, the Chief of Staff’s call for investigation and subsequent retrieval of GH₵1.9 million [revised down to GH₵1.5million] will be pointless if the report is still concealed from the public eye. 

I supported the Chief of Staff’s initiative, but that initiative has been undermined substantially by the inability or failure or refusal to publish the Attorney General’s (AG) report especially when there have been persistent calls for the disclosure of the actual content of that report. In a democratic environment, a vibrant one such as ours, and civil society groups have raised the red flags and requested for information relative to this particular matter; any serious administration must oblige,” he told Kwami Sefa Kayi, host of the show.

He therefore admonished the government to "make the report public", stressing that he doesn't "see what government will lose in this sense" since it is "not a classified document." 

"...it is different if it is a classified document with national security consideration, then we can make some little concessions but I don’t see this as one of those things," he added.

Also touching the issue, the Central Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kwamena Duncan indicated that the NPP will not let go quiet on government’s controversial deal with Smarttys when voted into power.

We will delve into this matter. We will investigate it. Any person that has used dubious ways to dupe this country; they will have the questions to answer,” he vowed.