Parliament probes payment for incomplete Nkwanta North Assembly block

Parliament’s Local Government and Rural Development Committee has ordered an investigation into the full payment made to a contractor for the construction and furnishing of the Nkwanta North District Assembly block in the Oti Region, which was inaugurated in October 2024 despite the building being incomplete.

The committee has directed its clerk to write to the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), which awarded the contract, to explain why the contractor was fully paid without completing the project or supplying all the items covered by the contract.

It also wants the fund to account for its failure to act on repeated complaints by the assembly about the outstanding works and undelivered equipment.

The Deputy Chairperson of the committee, Charles Akwasi Agbeve, gave the directive when the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Nkwanta North, Isaiah Kudjo Dordoe and the Coordinating Director, Samuel Gyamena, appeared before it over infractions contained in the 2025 Auditor-General’s report.

“I direct the clerk of the committee to take details of this contractor and the assembly and write to DACF because this was a contract awarded by DACF and the assembly is handicapped,” he said.

Mr Agbeve said the committee wanted to establish what had happened to the contract and what steps the fund had taken to address the concerns.

A committee member and Member of Parliament (MP) for Suame, John Darko, questioned why the assembly had failed to report the contractor to the police over the incomplete works and missing equipment.

He said the current administration should have taken action rather than waiting for the Auditor-General’s report to expose the lapses.

Mr Darko also called for the contractor to be surcharged for defective electrical wiring, warning that it could endanger lives.

Mr Gyamena confirmed that the building, undertaken as a special Common Fund project, was inaugurated before the works were completed.

He said outstanding works included an unfinished septic tank, faulty electrical wiring and the non-delivery of curtains, air conditioners and furniture. Engineers had recommended that the building’s electrical wiring be completely replaced.

He explained that the contractor allegedly returned the furniture to Accra after a disagreement over the production of a waybill before the items could be offloaded.

Mr Gyamena said both the previous and current administrations had written to the contractor, but the matter remained unresolved.

He added that owing to the lack of support from the Common Fund for the washroom facilities, the assembly had used its internally generated funds to construct 12 washrooms.

The MP for Nkwanta North, John Oti Bless, who joined the proceedings remotely, described the assembly block as an “eyesore” and expressed concern that it had been inaugurated without completion.

He urged the committee to ensure that the contractor was investigated and held accountable, stressing that public funds spent on the project must be retrieved.