_GOVERNMENT IS STIFFED NECKED TO HAVE GONE AHEAD WITH STX DEAL- KYEI MENSAH BONSU_

Minority leader and Member of Parliament for Suame constituency, Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, has described the present government as stiffed necked after it turned a deaf ear to the advice from the minority on the STX deal.

Mr Kyei Mensah Bonsu was speaking on the Friday, January 28, 2011 edition of the Big Bite morning show with Emefa Apawu on XFM 95.1, a privately owned radio station in Osu, Accra.

He says, “Government is stiffed necked, they want to damn the consequences and do it. The advice is out there. We ask that if you cleanse this whole agreement, we could have value for money and we could have more houses if we straighten up”.

Mr Kyei Mensah Bonsu's comments followed the commencement of work on the STX housing deal, the sod cutting ceremony which came off on Thursday, January 27, 2011.

President John Mills warned the Korea construction company, STX to desist from shoddy work as he dug the ground for the building of 30,000 housing units for the security agencies.

According to the President, the project will not only provide affordable housing for Ghanaian workers but address some of their economic challenges.

The opposition and some others have opposed the deal from its inception; however, government has been unfazed.

The Minority Leader, sometime ago, accused the government of perpetrating fraud concerning the joint venture agreement on the 10 billion dollar STX housing project.

Kyei Mensah Bonsu reiterated the earlier position that the NPP is not against the deal in its entirety, stressing that the proper thing needs to be done in providing affordable housing for Ghanaians citing an example with the story of a Nigerian armed robber who robbed banks and distributed the money out to villagers.

He says the fact that the housing needs of the populace needed to be met does not mean that things are taken for granted.

"We don't issue sovereign guarantee and then provide an insurance cover at the same time because the sovereign guarantee itself is an insurance cover so why do you go and do that".

"If they wanted to do that then they could get a consortium to do it for Ghana at a cost of $55 million and then save for ourselves more than $200 million. How many houses couldn't 200 million dollars build for Ghanaians? Government says, okay, we've recognized the goodness in your suggestion but hold on we've already committed ourselves so we want to go ahead and do it".

"So we are saying that we admire this effort to confront the problem and help solve the housing deficit but this agreement is not in the best of forms; can we have a second look at it so that if you want to pursue the STX agreement then we can have more houses from this. Government says no, we are content with this. No, clearly, it cannot be right".

This construction is the first phase of a 10 billion dollar STX Housing project.

Story by Susan Lamptey/ Xfm 95.1/ Accra/ Ghana