Kuffour started Wa water project, Akufo Addo will never apologise - Hon. Joseph Kofi Adda

My attention has been drawn to a Press Statement issued by the NDC Communications Team in the Upper West Region and carried in the media about alleged misrepresentation made during the commissioning of the Wa Water Project as to who should be credited with the
initiation of the project that has brought such relief to the people of the Wa municipality. The statement also sought to request an apology from His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo for failing to give credit to the NDC.

I wish by this Press Release, to set the record straight and in so doing, to stress that the President cannot, and will not render an apology to anyone as what he said during the commissioning ceremony was factually accurate and did so with the full knowledge of the history and of the events as well as policy decisions leading to sourcing of the funds, the subsequent execution of the project and its completion and commissioning.

In this regard, I wish to bring to the attention of the media and to the knowledge of the public the following:

i) That the project was conceived by the late Alhaji Abdulrahman Musah, popularly called “Wilhelmn” who was then the Board Chairman of the Ghana Water Company Limited. Please note that the Late Alhaji Musah was also a Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party during that era when former President Kufuor appointed him as the Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors.

ii) That the Board Chairman first sought funding from the Dutch fiancial agency, Orios, but as that was delaying, he caused the current Member of Parliament for Sissala West, Hon. Patrick Adamah, then a consultant working with the Korean construction company, Kolon, to repackage the project for support from the Korean government.

iii) That the repackaged project was presented to the Korean Eximbank in 2008 during President Kufuor’s tour of the Far East of which delegation I was a part as then Energy Minister, together with the current President, Nana Akufo-Addo, then as Foreign Minister.

iv) The negotiations for the Korean funding therefore commenced in earnest in 2008. Indeed, the negotiations were so far advanced that Dr. Kwabena Dufuor was confident enough about accessing the funds, that he included it as part of the 2009 National Democratic Congress (NDC) Financial Policy and Budget Statement read in March 2009. {Please see paragraph 452 of the Budget read by Dr Kwabena Dufuor in Parliament as an initiative of the previous [NPP] government which he stated would be continued by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing).

v) That reference can also be made to the handing over notes by the last Wa Municipal Chief Executive under the Kufuor’s administration, Alhaji Mohammed Abdul Aziz, for the new NDC administration in 2009 stated clearly in his notes to the new incoming government that the Wa Water project was initiated by the Kufour Government and recommended that the new government should continue with it. (Reference to Wa Municipal Chief Executive Officer’s “Comprehensive Handing Over Notes” to the Incoming Chief Executive Officer).

vi) At Wa, His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo stated that initiation of the project commenced during the NPP administration of President Kufuor, its implementation delayed during the NDC era and then got completed during this current NPP administration, to be commissioned by he, Nana Akufo Addo.

From the foregoing, it is clear that the President did no wrong and owes no one an apology and will not render and apology. He simply acknowledged that the NDC did the implementation but delayed in so doing, and that is the fact.

-------signed-------
Hon. Joseph Kofi Adda
Minister for Water Resources and Sanitation
(MP for Navrongo Central)