General News of Tuesday, 18 July 2017
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2017-07-18
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says he has not seen the controversial $14 million Vice President residence started by the past administration.
He revealed the closest he has ever come to seeing the house expected to accommodate him was through paper work.
“There is no work going on,” he told a gathering of news editors at the first media encounter with the President at the Flagstaff House Tuesday.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s meeting with media practitioners comes a week after he marked six-months in office on July 7.
Sector by sector, the President talked about the many measures his government has put in place to revive the ailing economy and to address the unemployment situation.
Sandwiched between the Vice President and some senior government officials at the event, the President said his government’s success will be measured by the number of jobs created.
The controversial Vice President’s Cantonment residence was an issue at the media encounter.
Responding to a question on the status of the residence, Dr Bawumia said works have halted. “The whole issue has been the cost…it has to be renegotiated,” he said.
The Vice President pulled punches at the past government when he discovered the cost of the structure started by the past National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was $13.9 million.
“Is the gate made of gold, pavement made of gold and blocks made of gold…a house built in Ghana, I can’t believe it,” he told the media in February, 2017. Five months after the revelation, which triggered a huge controversy between officials of the new government and its predecessor, the Vice President is advocating for renegotiation of the cost of the structure.
“It probably doesn’t make sense for Ghana to [abandon] the house,” Dr Bawumia cautioned, adding government will meet with the contractor to reconsider the cost.
