Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a former Deputy Minister of Communications
A former Deputy Communication Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has taken a swipe at President Akufo-Addo for claiming the Pokuase Interchange is a brainchild of his administration.
The 4 tier interchange was officially opened to traffic on Friday, July 9, 2021, to link Pokuase Junction to Kumasi, Awoshie, Kwabenya, and Accra.
President Akufo-Addo who commissioned the $80 million project refused to acknowledge the project was initiated by the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration.
But speaking on Inside Politics on Power FM, Kwakye Ofosu stated, “let me put on record that President Akufo-Addo knows nothing about the Pokuase Interchange, and the interchange too doesn’t know President Akufo-Addo.”
The special aide to former president John Mahama went on and explained that the erstwhile Mahama administration secured funding from the African Development Bank for the interchange to be constructed so the claim by the President cannot be true.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo while opening the project jibed John Mahama over the construction of some interchanges in the country.
According to the President, his government is building three interchanges with an amount of $289 million, while the erstwhile Mahama administration built only one interchange with almost the same amount.
“It is important to put on record that the original contract design [for the Pokuase interchange] was for a three-tier interchange, however through efficient management by my government the interchange was modified to a four-tier interchange within the same contract sum.”
“Indeed, $289 million has been used by the Akufo-Addo government to construct three interchanges (at Pokuase, Obetsebi Lamptey, and Tamale) as opposed to $260 million used by the Mahama government to construct only the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange. These are further examples of the fact that we in the NPP are good protectors of the public purse,” he stated.
However, Kwakye Ofosu discounted the claim and stated the Pokuase Interchange is an NDC project because the loan used for its construction was added to the loans of the Mahama administration.
“November 3, 2016, was when the funds were secured. Parliament approved the loan and we have begun procurement processes only for us to lose the elections,” Kwakye Ofosu told Mugabe Maase.
“The reason he [President Akufo-Addo ] is claiming glory for the interchange is that he has not done anything meaningful in the country; if he had done something meaningful to be proud about, he would not be claiming a project funded for by his predecessor,” he jabbed.