Honorary Vice-President of civic group IMANI Africa, Mr. Bright Simons, has expressed confusion over a new tender issued by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for the construction of a corporate office in Tamale, following the Auditor General’s report last year that flagged a significant increase in BoG’s foreign exchange payments, partly attributed to the same project.

An excerpt from the Auditor General’s report pointed out by Simons indicates that BoG had already spent a significant portion of foreign exchange payments—over $84 million—on this same project in 2022.

The report attributes 30.7% of the total payments of $117 million to the construction of the Tamale office, alongside infrastructure for the African Games.

The recent tender issued by BoG, with a deadline of September 5, 2024, calls for the construction of a corporate office in Tamale.

Upon discovering this new tender, Simons raised questions as to why another tender is being issued for a project that was supposedly already accounted for in the previous payments.

“If such substantial payments were already allocated to the project, why is a new tender being issued in 2024 for the same office? Was the previous funding used effectively, or is there a gap in the project’s completion and accountability?” were some of the questions he raised.

To this end, Bright Simons has expressed his concerns, stating, “Last year, the Auditor General flagged a big increase in Bank of Ghana forex payments of more than $84m. One of the reasons given was that a new corporate office in Tamale was being built. Imagine then my confusion seeing a new BoG tender to build a corporate office in Tamale.”