The Minority in Parliament has criticized the government’s $147 million E-gate project at Kotoka International Airport, alleging corruption and irregularities in the deal.
The system, part of a $147 million initiative, was implemented to improve passenger processing and boost efficiency at the airport.
Addressing journalists in Accra on Wednesday, Minority Chief Whip Governs Agbodza questioned the justification for such a large expenditure, noting that the entire airport cost $250 million to build.
He described the deal as a “create, loot, and share” scheme, demanding greater scrutiny and full disclosure of the procurement process.
Agbodza also warned that proceeding with the deal could lead to a financial scandal and urged civil servants involved to reconsider.
He stressed that the E-gate system, which is supposed to integrate airport operations, should not incur such unreasonable costs.
“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.”
