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The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has taken on Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East and Fisheries Minister, Hawa Koomson, labelling her as “a candidate for jail”.
Addressing Identifiable Stakeholders and Groups during a campaign tour of the Awutu Senya East constituency on Friday, 11th October, 2024, Mr. Gyamfi accused Hawa Koomson of overseeing massive corruption during her tenure as Minister for Special Development Initiatives.
He cited the government’s poorly implemented One Village, One Dam initiative to back his claim, saying the program occasioned huge financial loss to the state.
The One District, One Dam initiative was one of the much-touted ‘flagship’ programs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government. The purpose of the program was to drive all-season farming by constructing irrigation dams, particularly in the northern and Savanah regions of the country.
However, the program has faced implementation challenges amid poorly constructed dug-outs and allegations of financial malfeasance.
Reports from various regions reveal a picture of dry dug-outs in several communities which can hardly hold enough water for the consumption of livestock, let alone all-year farming.
Amid mounting criticism over the poor implementation of the program, then Minister for Special Development Initiatives, Hawa Koomson complained about inadequate funding, saying the GHS250,000 budgeted for each dam at the time could not finance the construction of “a meaningful dam”.
However, reports later emerged about financial irregularities, as many of the dams remain unusable or uncompleted white elephants.
This development, according to Sammy Gyamfi, has occasioned a huge financial loss to the state for which Hawa Koomson will face potential charges for the offense of willfully causing financial loss to the state.
He said there was no value for money in the manner in which public funds were expended on the dams which have no use, hence no justification could be made for the use of public funds, most of which remain unaccounted for.
Sammy Gyamfi has therefore served notice that a future NDC government, led by John Dramani Mahama, will prosecute the Fisheries Minister for financial loss.
He assured the NDC faithful at the gathering that through the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL), the NDC will pursue and recover for the state all stolen public funds and prosecute all corrupt officials of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP administration.
The tough-speaking NDC communication officer vowed that the next administration will pursue accountability from the current government and bring to book MP for Awutu Senya East, Hawa Koomson and all other persons who are found to have misused or misapplied public funds.
