7 Go to court over rebranded buses
The controversy surrounding the rebranding of 116 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses at a cost of GH¢3.6 million has been escalated to the Human Rights Court.
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Seven Ghanaians have sued the Minister of Transport and the Attorney-General, asking for an order directing the Minister of Transport to fully disclose the content of the contract for the rebranding of the buses.
The seven are specifically requesting for an order directed at the Minister of Transport to furnish them with copies of the contract for the branding of the 116 buses.
The applicants are Lolan Ekow Sagoe-Moses, Kathleen Addy, Francis Kennedy Ocloo, Evans Amegashie, Yaw Baffour Ankomah, Kwame Barkers Ansah and Michael Annor.
“We wish to ascertain”
The applicants noted that in the exercise of their constitutional right to information, they wished to ascertain, through the court and from the Minister of Transport, answers to certain pertinent questions concerning the award of the contract for the branding of the 116 BRT buses.
Some of the issues the applicants want to ascertain are whether or not the award of the contract was done in adherence to the Public Procurement Act; whether or not the contract procurement was competitive or sole sourced and whether or not there were other alternatives to the contract.
They are seeking an order directed at the Minister of Transport to make full disclosure on the contract for the branding of the 116 buses.
Furthermore, they are seeking a further order directed at the Minister of Transport to furnish them with copies of all the documents relating to the contract for the branding of the 116 buses.
A writ of summons issued on behalf of the applicants by their lawyer, Mr Kofi Bentil, is also praying the court to grant any other order it may deem fit.
Affidavit in support
An affidavit in support of the motion for the enforcement of the fundamental human rights of the applicants and deposed to on behalf of the applicants by Messrs Sagoe-
Moses and Ocloo said Article 41 (f) of the 1992 Constitution enjoins citizens to protect and preserve public property and expose and combat misuse and waste of public funds and property.
“The instant action is brought in the spirit of probity and accountability and pursuant to our civic responsibility under Article 41(f),” it said.
It is the applicants’ case that some time on or about December 16, 2015, news reports emerging from the Parliament of Ghana revealed that the government of Ghana, acting through the Ministry of Transport, had spent GH¢3.6 million on the branding of 116 BRT buses at a cost of approximately GH¢31,000 per bus.
The affidavit noted that following the revelation, the artist who branded the said buses granted interviews to the media, in which he claimed that he had charged GH¢1,600 per bus.
“That there has been no official reaction from the Ministry of Transport concerning the claims made by the said artist. That we are advised and verily believe same to be true that Article 21 (f) of the 1992 Constitution guarantees us a fundamental right to information,” the it stated.
Writer’s email: [email protected].