President John Evans Atta Mills has directed that
the Supplier's Credit Financing Agreement that generated unending debate in parliament on Wednesday be withdrawn and sent to a joint ministerial committee for a re-look.
Mr Alban Sumana Bagbin, Minister for Water Resources Works and Housing who delivered the directive, said the President took note of the concerns raised by the Minority and had referred the issue to the committee to re-look the whole agreement.
The Minority yesterday raised concerns about the off-taker agreement and other relevant documents which they argued were shrouded in secrecy because they were not made available to members.
Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, First Deputy Speaker, who was in the seat for the Speaker, Mrs Joyce Bamford-Addo, suspended debates in favour of the Minority to impress upon the Ministry of Finance to furnish all members with the off-taker agreement document.
The Minority also demanded that the Ministry of Finance alone handling the loan agreement was not good enough and suggested that the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing and the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice be involved for proper due diligence be done on the agreement.
According to Mr Bagbin the President however noted that debates on the matter should not be soiled with partisan conditions.
He said the President commended both sides of the House for their tremendous commitment and support.
Mr Cletus Apul Avoka, Majority Leader, said the further discussion on the agreement would address the issue of regulations and law.
He noted that the move was the government's demonstration of transparency, adding "this is a listening government."
"It takes humility and courage to be able to go back for things forgotten," he said, and assured Ghanaians for that matter the Security
Services who were beneficiaries of the package, that the project was not shelved but would be refined to their advantage.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader, said "I am encouraged that we reach where we are in this matter," adding that "good counsel has
prevailed."
"Nobody is against this bold declaration of intent, especially housing the Security Services, knowing well their situation," he said.
He said "I hope by this gesture the Majority will listen and not be allergic to criticism looking at the manner in which the Majority Leader rejected issues the Minority raised."
He entreated the House to work together and create the right environment for a smoother take off of the project.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu called on the joint committees working on the agreement to holistically approach and consider issues especially the unit cost of the houses and other relevant issues.
Mr James Klutse Avedzi, Chairman of the Finance Committee, in withdrawing the motion said not that the committee did not work well but for
some of the concerns raised by the Minority, the motion must be withdrawn to be fine tuned.
He called on members of the joint committee who would be working on the report to give their maximum support.
The Government of Ghana and the STX Engineering Company and Construction Limited are entering into Supplier's Credits Financing
Agreement which when completed will provide 30,000 housing units for the security service at a cost of US$1,525,443.468.00 for the security services.