Following reports of some corrupt practices being recorded at the Biakoye District Assembly in Oti, a young man Richard Onny has dragged the entire District Assembly and a contractor with company “INCONAC PLUS ENTERPRISE” to court, asking the court to restraint the duo who are first and second defendants in the matter from executing a contract he claims in the statement of claim to have been awarded without due process.
SUIT NO. F12/57/2020 outlined that, the said project, a six (6) unit classroom block was not channelled through the laid down tender process as established by law.
Amongst other things, the plaintiff Richard Onny of H/NO. W 140, Nkonya Ntsumuru in Oti is asking a Ho High Court to put on the defendants, a perpetual injunction restraining the Defendants by themselves, their assigns, servants, privies, workmen from renovating the Basic School and ongoing construction till the final determination of the said suit.
BACKGROUND
Mr Richard Onny is a native of Nkonya Ntsumuru and a public spirited person. Somewhere in 2019, the Biakoye District Assembly gave out a contract to INCONAC PLUS ENTERPRISE for the construction of a six (6) unit classroom block in Nkonya Ahenkro, the District capital.
The District Assembly outsourced an amount of five hundred and fifteen thousand Ghana Cedes from the GETFUND Scheme to be used to build the said structure.
According to Mr Onny’s claims, the contract did not go through any proper tender procedure and was not even advertised as specified by law.
According to Mr Onny within the claim, instead of the contractor executing the said project at least to what has been specified in the contract document, the second defendant INCONA PLUS ENTERPRISE rather decided to clad an existing three-unit classroom block and again, decided to renovate an old 3-unit classroom block to cover the cost as mentioned above.
Mr Richard Onny claimed that, to his chagrin and disappointment, despite agitations from members of the District Assembly for the right thing to be done, managers of the Assembly ignored the agitations and went ahead to encourage the contractor to continue with the said action that amounts to short changing of the people of Biakoye and for that matter, Ghana.
The above action Mr Onny claims has resulted into very serious arguments hence his action to seek redress at the law courts.
He claimed that, the contract has been inflated and that, Biakoye as a young District must not be allowed to go through the said activity.
Meanwhile, tension is mounting in the Biakoye District over what many people described as arrogance, disrespectfulness and acts of corruption on the part of the District Chief Executive Comfort Atta.
What again is causing more agitation is the fact that, the owner and CEO of INCONAC PLUS ENTERPRISE, Peter Baah owns additional companies, which he uses to ‘receive’ contracts from the District Assembly. According to information, no other company is given the opportunity to tender for any job in the District.
Contracts related to maintenance and supply of street lights, supply of items for onward distribution to disabled people in the District and some other heavily inflated contracts were all given out to this same company.
Some Assembly members claimed that, there is no openness in the day to day administration of the Assembly and wonders why higher authority continue to remain mute over these matters.