Ofori-Atta approved $34.9m payment for 307 ambulance spare parts — Ablakwa

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has disclosed that former Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta was involved in a US$34.9 million (GH¢538 million) deal for the servicing of 307 ambulances.

Ablakwa revealed that Ofori-Atta, in collaboration with former Minister of Health Kweku Agyemang-Manu, facilitated the payment to Service Ghana Auto Group Limited.

In a Facebook post, Ablakwa stated that Ofori-Atta instructed the Controller and Accountant-General to release US$10 million, equivalent to GH¢120,711,000.

He disclosed that deeper parliamentary oversight through GIFMIS assessments also confirms that even before this US$34.9million scandalous Ken Ofori-Atta/Agyeman-Manu send-off package, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited has received a colossal GH¢115,342,573 in payments for shoddy servicing of the ambulances between 2020 and 2023.

He added that so far, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited alone will be making a mind-boggling GH¢653million from these ambulances.

Ablakwa known for his exposes said the figure is more than double how much the ambulances cost us in 2019, prevailing the exchange rate of US$54million which was the cost of the 307 ambulances in 2019.

Below is Samuel OKudzeto Ablakwa’s statement

THE US$34.9 MILLION (GHS538 MILLION) AMBULANCE SCANDAL AND HOW SERVICE GHANA AUTO GROUP LIMITED HAS MADE A COOL GHS653MILLION THROUGH INFLATED INVOICES

Unimpeachable intercepted documents from Ghana’s Ministry of Finance reveal yet another scandal of ginormous proportions.

Five days before leaving the Ministry of Finance after President Akufo-Addo’s lame-duck Valentine’s Day reshuffle, Ken Ofori-Atta decided to teach us one more unforgettable bitter lesson. Perhaps, it was his special way of exiting with a vengeance after incessant and relentless calls from suffering Ghanaians to have him sacked.

In a grand ‘lootocratic’ conspiracy with the outgoing Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu who was also affected by the reshuffle, the two abysmal performing ministers decided to cause more financial loss — 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 — the two outgoing disastrous ministers didn’t think they have already wreaked enough havoc to have mercy on us.

In his last shockingly sleazy conduct, Ken Ofori-Atta by a letter dated 9th February 2024 approved a staggering US$34,904,505.00 to be paid to the discredited Service Ghana Auto Group Limited for the procurement of spare parts for the 307 ambulances purchased by the government in 2019.

On the same 9th February 2024, the busy Finance Minister instructed the Controller and Accountant-General to release US$ 10 million, equivalent to GHS120,711,000.00.

My impeccable tracking of this transaction confirms that the Controller and Accountant-General processed and released the GHS120,711,000.00 on February 23, 2024, which was promptly received in the accounts of Service Ghana Auto Group Limited.

An analysis of this dubiously 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.

Instructively, checks from many Mercedes Benz ambulance dealers worldwide show that US$113,695,456.00 is far more than the value of a considerable number of modern fully equipped ambulances.

Why sign a rip-off and an unconscionable sweetheart deal of US$113,695.456.00 just for spare parts when you can buy a new fully equipped modern Mercedes Benz ambulance for the same value, and even less?

What happened to value for money and love for country?

Further parliamentary oversight reveals that Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was incorporated on April 24, 2020.

Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was therefore incorporated more than a year after the 307 new ambulances were commissioned by President Akufo-Addo on January 28, 2019.

Typical of how this incurably corrupt government operates, the company was handpicked without a competitive procurement process.

Additionally, the Government appears not to have done much due diligence on the directors of the company — I shall return to this in much detail later.

Deeper parliamentary oversight through GIFMIS assessments also confirms that even before this US$34.9million scandalous Ken Ofori-Atta/Agyeman-Manu send-off package, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited has received a colossal GHS115,342,573 in payments for shoddy servicing of the ambulances between 2020 and 2023.

This means, so far, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited alone will be making a mind-boggling GHS653 million from these ambulances. This figure is more than double of how much the ambulances cost us in 2019. (Prevailing exchange rate of US$54million which was the cost of the 307 ambulances in 2019.)

One wonders if the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government procured the ambulances to save lives or if they were procured to serve as an unbridled cash cow for corrupt politicians and their business collaborators.

What is even more depressing, is the Auditor-General’s special audit titled: Performance Audit Report of the Auditor-General on Fleet Management of the National Ambulance Service in.

Source: PulseGhana