Member of parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has exposed what he describes as the “corrupt frontiers cover-up” in the country.
According to him, the ” irredeemably corrupt” Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government believes it has successfully blocked access to all information on its “criminal” Frontiers COVID-19 Airport Testing deal.
He revealed that not even a directive and a GHS200,000.00 fine imposed by the RTI Commission following a Joy News petition has been helpful in compelling Akufo-Addo’s appointees at the Ghana Airport Company Limited and the “larger Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration to disclose the requested information on the Frontiers contract in the interest of transparency and accountability”.
However, he expressed “bad news for this buccaneer government”. He explained that in the supreme national interest, he has by the “Grace of God intercepted all the relevant documents on this dubious Frontiers heist, notwithstanding government’s desperate efforts at a shameless cover-up”.
“SOA Oversight shall ensure that this grand Frontiers create, loot and share; together with all those who FRONTED for FRONTIERS are duly exposed and sanctioned for God and Country…”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Elaborating on his exposé, Mr Ablakwa stated that it will focus attention on the “bombshell” offer letter from the Ghana Airport Company Limited to Frontiers Healthcare Services Limited, dated August 31, 2020, and signed by former Managing Director, Mr. Yaw Kwakwa.
He noted that the letter reveals that Frontiers was handpicked in an “opaque sweetheart deal” after a hush-hush discussion, insisting that Ghana’s procurement laws were blatantly and violently flouted and suspended.
Additionally, he stated that it was not a competitive exercise, as credible institutions such as Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research, Korle Bu Central Laboratory and others who were at the forefront of the COVID containment were sidelined as government opted for the “overnight incorporated dubious” Frontiers.
“This letter incredibly reveals how an offer was made to Frontiers on 31st August, 2020 and how actual testing magically commenced the next day, September 1, 2020. Something to soon feature in Guinness World Records. In a total rip off, the government per the offer letter asked for a fixed share of a measly and wickedly unpatriotic $10 per test as Frontiers keeps $140 per test considering that Frontiers was charging each passenger $150…”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Furthermore, Mr Ablakwa indicated that Frontiers was asked according to the offer letter to make a “paltry and insulting” payment of only $97,109.00 as proof of acceptance of the offer for an exclusive control of the Upper Arrival, Terminal 3, KIA.
He noted that this was made regardless of the fact that Frontiers stood to make and has indeed made profits worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Despite the “outrageous giveaway”, Mr Ablakwa explained that Frontiers was exempted from paying water bills.
“The offer letter did not provide technical specifications; standards and the specific amount of investment Frontiers was obliged to make in setting up the testing facility which actually exposes how everything was skewed by government officials to collude with Frontiers in raping Ghanaians.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Frontiers deal unpacked
Moreover, the North Tongu legislator highlighted that the offer letter made no reference to mandatory authorization from the Health Facilities Regulatory Authority (HeFRA) as a condition precedent.
This, he noted, explains why Frontiers commenced work many months before it applied to HeFRA for licensing after his original exposé.
“From the intercepted offer letter, Frontiers was granted an unfathomable long duration of 2 years to loot, create and share; and that was regardless of whether Covid is defeated in a few weeks or not. This also explains why Ghana was basically the only country still testing at the airport many months after airport authorities in many other jurisdictions had stopped and dismantled their testing systems.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Describing the evidence as overwhelming, Mr Ablakwa expressed that the Frontiers deal was a grand operation between a “buccaneer government and lootocratic” entrepreneurs to make a fortune at a time many were being killed and hospitalized by a devastating pandemic.
He emphasized that conservative analysis of passenger traffic statistics available on the website of the Ghana Airport Company shows that during the 2-year period of Frontiers’ scam operations, there were an estimated 1million arrivals at KIA.
Factoring eventual reductions from $150 to $50 only for ECOWAS nationals, Mr Ablakwa stated that Frontiers and others who fronted for them must have raked in not less than US$130million in “killer” profits. To this end, he vowed to release more documents on this “unconscionable killer” Frontiers scandal in subsequent publications.
Furthermore, Mr Ablakwa urged all Ghanaians who have had enough of the “blatant stealing, impunity, lawlessness, fraudulent deals” to join the minority in Tuesday’s #OccupyBoGProtest.
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