President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has boldly declared that his administration will not sit aloof for contractors to unduly delay government projects whilst the citizenry suffers.
He has therefore directed that with effect from Monday, October 14, 2019, any contractor that has been engaged by a district assembly and not living up to expectation will have their contracts terminated.
“From Monday, I will order the Minister of Local Government to terminate the contracts of contractors working with the various district assemblies, but not delivering,” he said.
Addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Drobonso in the Sekyere Afram Plains District of the Ashanti Region, the President insisted that he was in a hurry to improve the infrastructural base of the country.
He said he would not accept situations where contractors engaged by the various district assemblies fail to live up to expectation.
“Those who have been awarded contracts but are not delivering would have their contracts terminated and new contractors would quickly be appointed to finish the job on time,” he declared.
On security issues, he said his government had worked tirelessly to increase the movable vehicles in the Ghana Police Service from just 250 to 600, and his target is to increase it further to 1,000.
The President disclosed that “when we came into government, we had only 30,000 policemen and 250 vehicles, which were woefully inadequate, and we have increased the number of cars to 600”.
He also said he recently participated in Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) meeting, where insecurity and robberies at Drobonso and the surrounding areas was discussed.
He expressed worry over the situation and said he would instruct the IGP to appoint a police commander for Drobonso to help improve security in the area so that the robberies would stop.
Nana Dwamena Dankwa Dwebisaw, the Drobonsohene, lauded the Akufo-Addo administration for carrying out developmental projects in the area.
He, however, appealed to the President to intervene so that the rampant robberies and general insecurity in the area would be curbed, saying that robbers were gradually taking over the area.
The President, who was in his final day of his three-day tour of the Ashanti Region, was accompanied by the Education Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh and some government officials.
DGN