THE Leader of Opposition Hon Matthew Wale has called on the Police Commissioner to investigate a $7m renovation project of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID) headquarters.
The Leader of Opposition made the statement in light of the still-incomplete state of the MID headquarters.
Reports reaching the Opposition Leader highlighted that $7M was paid out to a contractor for the full renovation of the MID headquarters in 2016.
The renovation however covered only the first of three floors.
It was understood a subsequent contract given out to complete the renovation only finished part of the second floor.
Hon Wale urged the Police Commissioner to immediately investigate these payments to see where they lead.
“These kinds of abuse of the procurements & payments systems are only possible with collusion by key public officers in MID & Treasury. Investigation must be carried out to determine why $7M was paid for an unfinished job, and why no due diligence was carried out from the finance ministry”
“Furthermore, there are also claims that certain officials the MID also benefited from the $7M. This too must be looked into. Everyone responsible must be held to account” Hon Wale emphasized.
The Hon. Leader of Opposition stressed that the Police Commissioner must act with urgency as these abuses are becoming more common within Government ministries and departments.
“There are also reports that a leaf house project that was paid for more than 200,000 to be built at the MID is still incomplete. Others highlight immoral dealings in the architecture department creating ghost companies for their own benefit and even officials within the vehicle-hiring department providing personal vehicles for hiring. These are all very concerning,” he said.
Hon Wale concluded that the MID needs a major clean up.
‘Firstly, people who are involved in fraudulent acts must be removed. Second, the public service recruitment process must be free from political interference. People coming into the public service must not be people merely handpicked by politicians,” he said.
– Opposition Press
