By: Emmanuel Nkansah Abankwah
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the member of parliament for North Tongu, has been served notice that he will be appealing the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) today, Monday, July 22, to look into an alleged dubious $34.9 million (GH₵538 million) ambulance spare parts procurement deal.
Accompanied by documentary proof of the transaction, Mr. Ablakwa revealed the information in a Facebook post on Monday, July 22. He is accusing former Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu and former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of working together with a private company to defraud the government.
Five days prior to his dismissal, he claims the Finance Minister hastily authorised the agreement.
He said that the beneficiary firm, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited, was doubtfully able to service ambulances because it was just founded on April 24, 2020, one year after the ambulances were put into operation in 2019.
“Five days before to departing the Ministry of Finance following President Akufo-Addo’s clumsy Valentine’s Day reorganisation, Ken Ofori-Atta made the bitter decision to impart one final, indelible lesson to us. Maybe it was his unique method of taking revenge for the constant and unrelenting demands of the suffering Ghanaians to fire him.
He declared, “The two dreadful ministers didn’t think they had already wreaked enough havoc to have mercy on us. It seems from the Sputnik V scandal, mismanagement of billions of COVID funds, benefiting directly from loans accumulated, all the way to Ghana’s current bankruptcy. This was all part of a grand ‘lootocratic’ conspiracy with the outgoing Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who was also affected by the reshuffle.
In a letter dated February 9, 2024, Ken Ofori-Atta authorised the disgraceful Service Ghana Auto Group Limited to be paid an astounding US$34,904,505.00 for the acquisition of spare parts for the 307 ambulances that the government bought in 2019. This was his last act of horribly sleazy behaviour.
Mr. Ablakwa said that the Controller and Accountant-General were given instructions by the Finance Minister on February 9, 2024, to disburse US$ 10 million, or GHS 120,711,000.00.
The Controller and Accountant-General processed and released the GHS120,711,000.00 on February 23, 2024, and it was quickly received in the accounts of Service Ghana Auto Group Limited, according to my meticulous surveillance of this transaction.
In addition, the former Deputy Minister of Education stated that “an analysis of this dubious outrageous transaction valued at US$34,904,505.00 for spare parts for 307 ambulances actually translates into US$113,695.456.00 per ambulance.”
According to instructive checks from numerous Mercedes-Benz ambulance dealers worldwide, US$113,695,456.00 is significantly more than the cost of a sizable number of brand-new, fully equipped ambulances.
Why pay the same amount or even less for a brand-new, fully equipped Mercedes-Benz ambulance when you can purchase a sweetheart deal for spare parts that is a rip-off and unconscionable? What became of the love of one’s country and the worth of money? He asked a question.
The MP said that further parliamentary oversight through GIFMIS assessments also demonstrates that Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was paid an enormous GHS115, 342,573 for poor ambulance maintenance between 2020 and 2023—even prior to the scandalous US$34.9 million Ken Ofori-Atta/Agyeman-Manu send-off package.
This indicates that Service Ghana Auto Group Limited will earn an astounding GHS653 million from these ambulances alone thus far. This amount is more than twice as much as the ambulances cost us in 2019. The 307 ambulances in 2019 cost US$54 million at the time of the prevailing exchange rate. ”
Mr. Ablakwa is especially surprised that a business that was included in an Auditor General’s report but was indicted for all the wrong reasons was chosen for this kind of deal.
Even more concerning, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was found to have the following egregiously negative findings in the Auditor General’s special audit, Performance Audit Report of the Auditor-General on Fleet Management of the National Ambulance Service, which was released on May 25, 2022:
I) Service Ghana Auto Group Limited inflated invoices;
II) Service Ghana Auto Group Limited, in many instances, used staff of the National Ambulance Service for its maintenance even though all payments went to their company;
III) Service Ghana Auto Group Limited consistently breached maintenance schedules and procedures and
IV) The service The Ghana Auto Group Limited MoU with the National Ambulance Service did not inure to the benefit of the National Ambulance Service.
How can any government that claims to care about protecting the public purse be aware of this damning audit report and still proceed to award an even bigger contract of US$34.9 million (GHS538 million) when Ghana did not get value for money after previously paying Service Ghana Auto Group Limited GHS115 million?
Later, he said on Monday on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, which Puretvonline.com was abled to listened, that the Auditor General’s report even went so far as to suggest that the business give the state a refund.
Who would have guessed that a government that was doing everything in its power to get Minority Leader Hon. Dr. Ato Forson found guilty in that notorious ambulance trial for allegedly causing financial loss of €2.37 million would be criminally responsible for real financial loss of US$34.9 million through reckless and mindless actions in another ambulance transaction? “Yes, tomorrow is pregnant,” Mr. Ablakwa declared in conclusion.