A former Deputy Minister of Information Felix Kwakye Ofosu has said that the facts and evidence surrounding the Saglemi Housing project are in favour of the former Minister of Works and Housing Collings Dauda who has been charged for willfully causing financial loss to the state in relation to this project.

His comments come after another former Minister of Works and Housing Enoch Teye Mensah has said the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Sammy Gymafi peddled falsehood in his response to the suit against Mr Dauda.

The former lawmaker for Ningo Prampram said the facts do not support what Sammy Gyamfi said about him.

Sammy Gyamfi had said in a statement among other things that “It is instructive to note, that the Minister of Works and Housing at the time, Hon. E.T Mensah informed Parliament during the debate on the approval of the loan facility, that the 5000 housing units will not be built at a go, but rather over a period of time, that is, in phases. This is captured in black and white in the Parliamentary Hansard of 23rd October, 2013.

“Subsequent to the grant of Parliamentary approval, the Ministry of Works and Housing under Hon. E.T Mensah prepared and executed a Works Agreement with the Contractor for the project, Construtora OAS Limited. It is in the Works Agreement that government decided to build the 5000 housing units in 4 phases. The consultant for the project was AESL. Note that Parliament had already approved the loan Agreement, and therefore the Works Agreement which was an issue of implementation by the Ministry was not required to be approved by Parliament.”

This comes after the Attorney-General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame earlier this week filed court processes to prosecute former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda; his successor, Dr. Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, and three other persons for allegedly causing financial loss to the state willfully over the now-abandoned Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.

The state is pressing 52 counts of criminal charges against the accused persons who he accuses of misapplying the state’s $200 million to pay for less than 1,500 affordable housing units at Saglemi, instead of the 5,000 units parliament granted approval for.

But ET Mensah said “Every thing (Sammy Gyamfi said) is not true, it is a packed of lies. You [host of the program] should have alerted me I would have come with the handover notes.

“The project started when the TSX became a fiasco. It was Mills project, he was the one who signed and gave the approval.”

Responding to ET Mensah in a Facebook post, Sammy Gyamfi said “The issues about the “Saglemi” Housing Project which are being disputed by Hon. E.T Mensah are well documented matters of public record.

“Facts are sacrosanct, and same shall be laid bare to settle all the issues in contention.”

Adding his voice to this debate, Felix Kwakye Ofosu said in Facebook post that “Those NPP chaps grinning from ear to ear about what the venerable E.T Mensah said yesterday don’t know what they are gloating about.

“The name of the game is evidence and it abounds in favour of Hon Collins Dauda.”