OB AMOAH CAUTIONS GOVERNMENT ON ABURI GARDENS "SALE"

Member of Parliament for Aburi-Nsawam, Mr  Osei Bonsu Amoah has welcomed the move by government to partner any private investment company to see to the development of the Aburi Botanical Gardens.

He has also, however, thrown a word of caution to government to be circumspect in its handling of the matter.

He says, any plans to privatize the Aburi Botanical Gardens should be done in a transparent, fair and open manner.

The Insight newspaper in its Friday, September 28 edition carried a headline story which read that the Aburi Gardens had been put up for sale.

Mr OB Amoah said on e.tv Ghana’s Breakfast TV that he had not received any official information concerning the sale of the place which falls under his jurisdiction.

He said, “at least I am aware unofficially that for the past years there have been discussions as to how best to run the place; whether Private Public Partnership (PPP) or wholly privatized or government should maintain it.”

“Officially I haven’t seen any documents to that effect. Except that when you go to the Aburi Gardens the place is run down. No facilities are being maintained. Just recently there was one structure that was painted to house the new district. That’s the newest thing that you see there. Otherwise the name doesn’t befit the status at all.”

“We need to do something about it because it is a place that can earn so much income for the Assembly that we need not depend on government. But for it to run down this way…we could even have a first class hotel facility over there,” he went on to say.

Transparency and fairness

The Aburi Botanical Gardens which is over 100 years old falls under the management of the Parks and Gardens which is an agency at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

However, budget allocation to the Parks and Gardens is inadequate to support the development programmes of these gardens of which the Aburi Botanical Gardens is one.

Although the MP for Aburi-Nsawam, the constituency under which the Garden falls, has welcomed government’s plans to partner private investors to take up the responsibility of developing the Garden to rake in the needed revenue, he is also cautioning the government to ensure that the process in selecting a partner is done in a very transparent and fair manner.

After expressing initial disappointment in the development of one of Ghana’s largest tourist sites, Mr OB Amoah noted that, “if they think the best way to do it is to privatize it, so be it but it should be very open, transparent and we go for the best value. It should not be undersold at all.”

“Probably the best that I will go for will be PPP but entirely leaving it in the hands of a private person will be a bit problematic because it is a huge facility and it is also an educational centre. A lot of school kids go there to learn a lot and if you look at that aspect, probably if you leave it in the hands of private people, they cannot even go there because of the fees that they charge,” he further stated.

He cautioned that, the likelihood of the place being undersold was high if the biding and tendering process was not done properly.

Mr OB Amoah noted that, “like every state owned enterprise, we should not privatize, we should look at all the issues, all the consequences and be very transparent so that we don’t undersell it.”

A colleague MP for Ho West, Mr Emmanuel Bedzrah who was also present during the discussion, also shared the same sentiments with the MP for Aburi-Nsawam.

He also recommended that a PPP arrangement would be the best way to go.

According to him, the creation of a new District Assembly in Aburi should be considered in the process.

Mr Bedrah said, “I want to plead with whoever has this proposal to hold on until the District Assembly takes off completely. So that it will be the District Assembly and any other private individual who will take over. Because the Aburi Gardens is one of our historical site it should not just be doled out to somebody who cannot hold claim to our heritage.”

“I want to plead with the Ministry of Tourism and Local Government to hold on until the District Assembly takes full control over the place and see if the district assembly can run it. If the District Assembly cannot run it then the district assembly can go into private partnership with somebody to run it,” he added.

During the course of discussion, a call was put through to the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Ofosu Ampofo and he explained that a PPP arrangement regarding the privatization of the Garden had been advertised and so far five companies have submitted proposals which are currently being reviewed.

He stressed that the Garden was not being put up for outright sale, rather, for a PPP arrangement.