The Member of Parliament for Damongo and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has disputed claims that Ghana’s newly commissioned Chancery in Addis Ababa is solely the achievement of the current administration.
In a Facebook post titled “Setting the Records Straight on Ghana’s Addis Ababa Chancery”, Mr Jinapor described comments made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, at the commissioning ceremony as “erroneous” and an “egregious misrepresentation of facts”.
The new Chancery, located in Addis Ababa, was recently commissioned amid public commendation of the government’s efforts to strengthen Ghana’s diplomatic presence in Ethiopia.
However, Mr Jinapor insisted that construction of the project began under the administration of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
According to him, the sod-cutting ceremony was performed by President Akufo-Addo on 10th February, 2020 on the sidelines of the African Union Summit.
The event, he said, was witnessed by then Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde and other senior officials from both Ghana and Ethiopia.
Mr Jinapor, who stated that he was present at the ceremony, recalled that President Akufo-Addo had at the time lamented Ghana’s failure to own a chancery building in Addis Ababa, given the longstanding relations between the two countries dating back to the era of Kwame Nkrumah and Haile Selassie.
He rejected suggestions that the project had a 10-year history from 2016, describing such claims as misleading.
Construction, he maintained, commenced in February 2020, immediately after the sod-cutting and had reached about 90 per cent completion by October 2024.
Mr Jinapor further indicated that the only delay in the project’s completion was related to the final payment of the contract sum during the 2024 general elections period.
He argued that if there had been any interruption in progress beyond that point, it could not be attributed to the previous administration.
“This is a national project commenced by the previous Government and completed by the current Government,” he stated, adding that acknowledging continuity in governance should not be viewed as partisan.
He described it as disingenuous to characterise the chancery as a “Mahama project” when, according to him, the current administration only completed the remaining 10 per cent of the work.
Mr Jinapor urged the Foreign Affairs Minister, as the country’s chief diplomat, to acknowledge what he termed “unimpeachable facts” surrounding the project’s origins and execution.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com