Death threats forced GREDA’s back-traction

 

Under the deal, 200,000 housing units are to be constructed across the country at a cost of 10 billion dollars.

GREDA’s decision to soften its stance on the housing deal has come as a surprise to many, given its initial insistence that the STX housing deal was bad for the country.

Their criticism echoed that of former CPP flagbearer, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, and the opposition NPP as well as some policy analysts that the deal does not make much provision for local content and financing.

The association pointed out that local contractors could have executed the project given the same conditions.

In an earlier interview with Joy News, GREDA President Dr. Alex Tweneboah said the deal is shrouded in ambiguity and should be rejected.

The association subsequently petitioned Parliament last week asking Members of Parliament not to approve the deal.

However at Monday’s meeting with the joint committee on Finance and Works and Housing, the association withdrew its petition, saying its initial fears had been allayed.

But GREDA’s u-turn comes as a surprise to many including policy think tanks Imani Ghana and Danquah Institute, who have also been at the forefront of the campaign against the housing deal.

Senior Fellow at IMANI, Kofi Bentil said virtually nothing had changed in the agreement to justify GREDA’s latest stand on the matter.

He said apart from the use of oil as a guarantee which has now been removed from the agreement following the agitations, all other aspects of the agreement remain the same.

The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has described as embarrassing the decision by the GREDA to backtrack on their opposition to the deal.

He said the decision was not only bizarre but most unfortunate, given that the association had petitioned Parliament not to approve the housing deal with the Korean company as it was inimical to national economy.

Meanwhile, Parliament’s joint committee on Finance and Works and Housing is expected to lay its report on GREDA’s new proposals and the credit financing agreement on the housing project before the House today.

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