This inquiry comes after the government announced the purchase of the first units of 12 modern diesel-powered trains expected to be in Ghana in February 2024 from Poland.

Mr. Cudjoe took to his Facebook to seek clarification on the deal including the contract and the promised sky trains to be built in the country.

“Can we have the proposed plan/ Contract for this acquisition? We need the procurement process to be used or adopted. How old are the rail coaches? What happened to the Sky Train promise after the Railways Ministry spent $2.5m chasing a fictitious deal?” he asked.

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The Essikado Ketan MP has said the claims are mere propaganda aimed at tarnishing his hard-won reputation as someone who has served Ghana with a high degree of integrity for several years.

In a statement, Mr Ghartey explained that the Auditor-General’s Report clearly indicates that it was the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund that acquired shares in the foreign company that approached the Ministry of Railways Development with an offer to develop an elevated metro tram system for Accra, envisaged to cost US$2.6 billion.

According to him, he made it clear from the beginning to the promoters of the Accra Sky Train Project that his Ministry did not have the budget for the proposed project.

However, he welcomed the project as a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) Project, hence the Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding in February 2018 and another Agreement with the promoters in November 2018.

“In 2019, the Ministry signed a concession agreement with the promoters, subject to several conditions precedent, including approval by Cabinet, approval by Parliament, approval by the Ministry of Finance, and conduct of a Value for Money Audit, among others, that needed to be satisfied before the concession agreement took effect,” he said.

The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund was established to mobilise, manage, coordinate, and provide financial resources for investment in a diversified portfolio of infrastructure projects in Ghana.

It has invested over US$300 million in various infrastructure projects. Joe Ghartey clarifies that it is not an agency or statutory body under the Ministry of Railways Development.

He further explained that in the third quarter of 2019, the concession agreement was signed in South Africa, and the investors were supposed to come to Ghana with their technical team to complete the full feasibility and final bill of quantities in 2020.

However, due to COVID and lockdowns in both South Africa and Ghana, their program was disrupted while he was serving as Minister.

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The Auditor General in its 2021 report described the transaction as a net liability.

This, according to the Auditor-General, was executed through the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund’s acquisition of 10 ordinary shares in the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Ai Sky Train Consortium Holdings, valued at the said amount.

Speaking to journalists in Parliament, Minority Chief Whip and Ranking Member on Roads and Transport Committee, Governs Kwame Agbodza demanded that amount is paid back into government kitty.

He further asked that “When you have a situation where the minister then says in 2023, now that he always believed that before the project takes off, that should be a cabinet approval, there should be a parliamentary approval, PPA approval, since none of these things were approved – In fact, the Auditor General’s report suggested that the company did not even have the necessary license to operate the system they wanted to operate?

“So the question is, what was the reason for government to act in a way to give our $2 million? Who actually took the decision to pay this entity in Mauritius was Dr Bawumia, the chairman of the economic management team, they call him the strategist now – aware that without any recourse to public financial management or the Public Procurement Act, it was wrong for any government entity to pay that kind of amount?”

This monumental infrastructure announced by President Akufo-Addo had its plan drafted back in 2017.

But an assessment of GIIF’s risk management issues reveals that the policy is still in the draft stage.

In 2018, Africa Investor Holdings Limited incorporated a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in Mauritius to establish the Ghana Sky Train Limited to develop the Accra Sky Train Project through a Design, Build, Finance and Operate arrangement.

Already, the Minister for Railways Development, John Peter Amewu hinted that the incumbent government will not be able to provide Ghanaians sky trains as earlier indicated.

According to him, even in a few years to come, this project cannot be implemented because it requires a significant amount of capital and government does not have the fiscal space to absorb such a facility.

“It is not possible to be done now. I don’t see any sky train being done in the next 3 to 4 years. There is not going to be any sky train in the country. It is not possible,” he said in an interview in November 2021.

During the address today, Governs Kwame Agbodza insisted that the arrangement amounts to organised crime.

“So who authorised the payment of the $2 million in terms of the so called feasibility, and which normal decision maker pays out $2 million for a feasibility study before, as they put it, they determine whether the project is bankable? These things only happen when it’s an organized crime. When people are careless, clueless and reckless about public expenditure because they don’t care. It only happens when there’s organized crime. So I think the minimum the Auditor General should be asking for is the refund of the $2 million.”

More on the botched project

Prior to Peter Amewu’s comments, Transport Minister Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, during the ministerial vetting process, indicated that processes are still ongoing for government to construct the sky train project as a means of transport in the country.

At his vetting on February 23, 2022, Mr Asiamah told the Appointments Committee chaired by Chairman Joseph Osei Owusu that his office together with Railways Ministry had engaged various prospective developers who had expressed interest in constructing the project.

But 2021 report by the Auditor General indicated that not much has been seen in terms of feasibility studies regarding the project.

The A-G said it has already advised the management of the Fund to take steps towards “finalisation and approval of the risk management policy by the Governing Board for implementation.”

The report subsequently urged management to “continue to monitor the feasibility of the investment in the SPV and make the necessary provisions based on the outcome of the feasibility studies.”

Meanwhile, despite receiving the money in February 2019, the SPV, Ai Sky Train Consortium Holdings, is yet to obtain a licence for “Aeromovel Technology’ required for the Sky Train Project.

GIIF was found to not have certificates of ownership for the equity investments in three companies totalling ¢146.6 million.

“We advised Management to take steps to obtain the appropriate certificates for all its investments.”

In November 2019, government signed the concession agreement with South African firm Africa Investment (Al) at a cost of $3 billion.

It was geared toward reducing traffic congestion in Accra with construction expected to commence in January 2020.

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