The Minority in Parliament has expressed concern over alleged corruption in the government’s decision to engage a private entity for the activation of the newly commissioned E-gate system at Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
The $147 million project, aimed at streamlining passenger arrivals and reducing turnaround times, has faced scrutiny from the Minority, who claim the agreement lacks transparency and is riddled with irregularities.
Minority Chief Whip, Governs Agbodza, criticized the deal during a press conference in Accra, labeling it a classic case of “create, loot, and share.” He also questioned the justification for spending $147 million on the E-gate system when the entire airport cost $250 million to construct.
“Why on earth would the whole airport, which cost $250 million to build? And you will be trying to get into an agreement with an entity to run an e-gate service for almost $147 million. This can be at the peak of create, loot and share…people are at the Bank of Ghana trying to open an account for GIS and others to start collecting this money. The VFM is not even out. The Immigration Service and Ministry of Finance are trying to sign an agreement. The warning is this, this is an illegality.”
“Do not proceed and every civil servant who is involved in a hasty decision to sign an agreement with this entity. I’ve decided not to mention the entity. But this entity specialises in getting soft money from DVLA, the passport office, the National Identification Authority, and other things.
“This time around, it’s not going to happen. So, Bank of Ghana, Ministry of Finance, Ghana Immigration Service, by the laws that we pass in this house, that activity was not supposed to be, I mean, an operation by the Ghana Immigration Service. It’s an integrated service that is supposed to be provided at the airport.”
Agbodza emphasized that the E-gate system is an integrated service meant to enhance operations at the airport and should not incur such exorbitant costs.
“The e-gate cannot be $147 million just for the provision of service when the entire airport costs $250 million,” Agbodza stated.
