For those that fell for and still believe in the ORAL lies, let me help put things into perspective.
- US$21.19 billion is about the same amount as the entire 2025 budget.
The direct wage bill for the public sector for 2025 is less than 6.5b usd.
Our entire budget for capital expenditure in 2025 is less than 3 billion usd.
So imagine what US$ 21.19 billion is.
- This amount is roughly one fifth of our expenditure over the last 8 years.
So it is absurd and ridiculous to suggest that, that amount has been stolen and went into some individuals pockets and can and will be recovered.
If you still believe that is possible, then let’s look at a couple of the 38 cases that Okudjeto presented.
A. Bank of Ghana Head office – US$ 222.7
How is the entire construction cost of a project that is duly delivered and in use be recoverable because you think the amount was inflated?
B. GHS80 billion (about US$7 billion) from BOG. money they claim was printed to support Government business. The accusation is not that this was misappropriated, but that it required parliamentary approval. So how do you recover it?
Mind you the same Okudjeto accepted non Ghanaian deportees from US without parliamentary approval.
C. Then there is PDS, US$190 million.
The funny thing about this one is that, they claim GHS1 billion of money collected by PDS is unaccounted for. However, ORAL is not interested in that. They rather want to recover the US$190 million grant that was forfeited.
Yes, you read it right. We are talking about money that was never given to Ghana. The US cancelled the compact because the PDS deal did not go through.
D. Pullman tax waiver. US$ 23.9 million.
Silly, this one.
No law was broken and the request went through the proper process and received parliamentary approval.
Not agreeing with it does not make it recoverable. If that is the case then we can start with recovering the waivers giving to Dzata cement or the US$832 million to MPS by NDC.
In any case, the pullman project has stalled, so most likely, they have not utilised the entire waiver. So it is impossible to recover the amount that ORAL is claiming.
So fellow Ghanaians, these were the Anansi stories sold to us by Okudzeto Ablakwa and his committee.
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