[ 2021-02-15 ]

Dr Mark Asibey Yeboah

Parliament not to blame for looming judgement debt – Assibey-Yeboah
The immediate-past Chairman of Parliament’s
Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah says
the lawmaking body cannot be blamed for the
looming judgement debt arising from Ghana’s
termination of the intelligent traffic management
system deal with Chinese company, Beijing
Everyway.

The private construction company has filed a
lawsuit against the Government of Ghana in the
London court of international arbitration to
demand $55 million from Ghana for cancelling the
contract.

Many are calling for sanctions against individuals
and Parliament over the development which they
believe is due to their negligence.

But Dr. Assibey-Yeboah, the former Member of
Parliament New Juaben South in an interview on the
Citi Breakfast Show explained that the deal had
duly gone through parliamentary approval and was
yet to be finally approved by the Finance Ministry
to take effect but the Roads and Highways Ministry
went ahead of that process to get the company to
begin work.

“Once Parliament gives approval, that is not the
final bit of all this contracting process. After
Parliament has given its approval, it goes to the
Attorney General, there was no objection following
which an agreement is actually signed between the
contracting parties then it takes off.”

“There are letters to the effect that Beijing
Everyway through the CDB [China Development Bank]
was urging the Ministry of Finance to execute the
contract. The Ministry of Finance did not do that
but somehow, the Ministry of Roads and Highways
got Beijing Everyway to commence work. I don’t
think Parliament is to be blamed in this one,”
he said.

Beijing Everyway, said prior to the cancellation
of the contract, it had worked on the provision
and installation of a traffic management system.

The contract was awarded to another Chinese-based
company by the government of Ghana despite
concerns from policy think-tank, IMANI Africa and
some Members of Parliament including Inusah
Fuseini.

“The project that is being implemented is coming
back to Parliament and if even we allow them to go
ahead, you can be rest assured that what they are
going to do will be a candidate for judgement
debt,” Fuseini said in an earlier interview.

About the Intelligent Traffic Management System
The Accra Areawide Intelligent Traffic Management
System was introduced to help reduce traffic
congestion in the capital city.

The system relies on a coordinated traffic signal
system with digitised traffic lights and a
centralised control centre where all traffic
signals will be monitored and controlled to
improve traffic flow, trip reliability and road
safety.

This means that all traffic lights across the
city, including the newly deployed ones with
artificial intelligence capabilities, will be
managed from a Traffic Management Centre, where
traffic on vital corridors and intersections in
the city will be examined.

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwesi
Amoako-Atta, inaugurated two of the areawide
traffic intelligent systems in Accra on February
2020.

They were the Kanda Highway/Castle Road and the
Starlet 91/Nationalism Park (close to the Accra
Stadium) traffic lights. Mr Amoako-Atta said the
project was being implemented in two phases.

He said the first phase, which includes the
operationalisation of 44 signalised intersections
on the Amasaman/central business district of Accra
corridor and the construction of the Traffic
Management Centre, was completed in July 2019.

The second phase was to include the completion of
253 signalised and non-signalised intersections
within the city, he added.

Source - Citinewsroom

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