Former Works and Housing Minister, Samuel Atta Akyea has said the Works and Housing Ministry under his leadership was not totally useless in contributing to the developmental needs of the country as perceived by a section of the public.
According to him, although the ministry was not given the required funding for the implementation of its policy programs, it had undertaken significant projects that possibly saved the nation from disaster particularly in the rainy season in areas where it received funding.
While admitting that the Akufo-Addo’s government did not prioritize the ministry in terms of funding, he said the government in its first term secured enough funding from the world Bank for the construction of proper drainage systems and provided on its own over 220 million cedis for the dredging and desilting of drains to curb the perennial flooding issues especially in the national capital hence, the ministry under him cannot be said to be dormant or ineffective.
Mr. Atta Akyea said his ministry would have completed the construction of the drainage systems before his exit but for the slow pace of carrying out the required assessment which is typical of facilities from international agencies like the World Bank.
“It was not totally useless. It was sort of minimize in focus and impact in the area of housing. When you take the area of housing out, the other departments of the ministry, President Akufo-Addo gave a very strong financial boost. For the first time, we secured US$ 200 million for purposes of dealing with the Odor drains – that ancient trouble that we were going through every year. It is being worked on seriously. But when you have a contract which is World Bank funded/induced, you go through what I called a very tortoise pace in terms of competence’s evaluation (that is the reason for the delays in commencing the construction).
The government in 2018 provided the ministry with funding worth 220.58 million cedis for drainage. And you realize that it paid off in the flood control. When we were inundated with rains, it was not as bad as it used to be,” he said.
Mr. Atta Akyea, who was the first minister to head the Ministry of Works and Housing after it was carved out of the then Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, has not been re-nominated for appointment in the second term of the Akufo-Addo’s government.
Although no reason has been given for his drop, many believe that the president’s decision to leave his relative out of his government is based on Mr. Atta Akyea’s abysmal performance in the ministry.
But the former Minister blamed the president and the Finance Minister Designate for his inability to undertake any major project while in office.
