Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has recently made public his petition to the World Bank concerning a project initiated by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization. Ablakwa claimed, supported by documents from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), that the Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, awarded a contract worth US$48 million without proper PPA approval.
The minister refuted the allegations and challenged Ablakwa to produce the contract she supposedly signed. Ablakwa presented additional evidence, which the minister dismissed as an attempt to change the focus of the issue.
On July 12, 2023, Ablakwa shared a formal petition he had submitted to the World Bank one day earlier. In the petition, he requested an investigation into the “irregularities, misrepresentation, insider dealing, and conflict of interest” surrounding the US$48 million Ascend Scandal. He also mentioned how these actions were used to fraudulently secure a US$49.5 million eTransform project funded by the World Bank. The petition, consisting of eight pages, was addressed to Ms. Maria C. Mallo, a senior investigator at the World Bank in Washington. Ablakwa based his petition on the bank’s Anti-Corruption Guidelines.
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