The newly appointed National Coordinator for the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, has refuted claims that the DRIP initiative is the brainchild of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Providing insights into the implementation of the DRIP machinery, Nii Lante Vanderpuye stated that the initiative was conceived during the administration of the late President Atta-Mills but was not realised at the time, subsequently resurfacing under the Mahama administration.

In a yet-to-be-aired interview with Radio Gold, he stated that the machines were acquired under the Mahama administration. As the then Deputy Minister for Local Government, he, alongside his substantive minister, Collins Dauda, visited the Tema Port to inspect the purchased machines before their deployment to various regions.

“DRIP is not Akufo-Addo’s legacy. During the time of President Atta-Mills, there was an attempt which we couldn’t complete. It came back during John Mahama’s era and at the time, I was the deputy Minister of Local Government and I went with my minister, Collins Dauda to the Tema Port to inspect those machines which we immediately began deploying,” he stated.

The former minister further revealed that the same DRIP machines were used by the private company Engineers and Planners to dredge the Odaw drain, removing debris in the aftermath of the June 3rd disaster.

He emphasised that the dredging undertaken by the company was done free of charge and incurred no cost to the state.

“Just around that time, we had that June 3rd fire and rain disaster. The machines that were used by Engineers and Planners to dredge the Odaw drain to clear the debris for free. We only bought diesel and oil and the work they did for free were those machines which were brought in by John Mahama’s government for DRIP,” he continued.

Nii Lante Vanderpuye, however, disclosed that the DRIP machines went missing after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) lost power and handed over governance to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2017.

He further stated that, as part of his mandate as the DRIP National Coordinator, he has been tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the machines between 2016 and 2017.

“Today, one of the tasks before me is immediately to ask for investigations into where those machines went. We brought the machines in 2016 as the process of acquiring them started in 2015. We ended up having them in 2016 deployed them around June/July and started work in the regions after deployment. As soon as we lost the elections in 2016 and handed over in 2017, those machines went missing,” he concluded.

The DRIP initiative was spearheaded by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government to improve all road networks in the country.

The initiative focuses on equipping Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) with the necessary resources and machinery to facilitate effective road maintenance and construction.

"DRIP is not Akufo-Addo's legacy!"

Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye delves into the DRIP initiative, revealing how all the “DRIP” machines acquired under the Mahama administration mysteriously vanished under the NPP government. pic.twitter.com/xARaMAXxuq

— Mahama 2024 president (@CitizenTechiman) February 24, 2025