It Is Sad To See Celebrated Intellectuals Lead Campaign Against David Adjaye – Gabby Otchere-Darko

Senior member of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, says he is saddened by the criticism being directed at renowned architect, Sir David Adjaye by some Ghanaian intellectuals.

Sir David Adjaye has been at the receiving end of serious criticism after his company, David Adjaye and Associates was awarded several government contracts worth millions of dollars through sole sourcing.

But according to Gabby Otchere Darko, it is sad to see individuals who are celebrated for their intellectual prowess championing these attacks.

“I find it sad to see men we celebrate for their intellectual artistry being the lead campaigners against a globally successful Ghanaian such as David Adjaye who chose to relocate his global business in Ghana. #HateNotSuccess,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

Concerns such as the lack of competitive bidding in the awarding of major architecture contracts to Mr Adjaye have been raised by some critics.

Sharing such concerns, the Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons while speaking on Joynews recently disclosed that the architect has been ordered five contracts through sole sourcing.

According to him, the government has so far sole-sourced five major projects to Sir David Adjaye’s company which will eventually earn him more than $300 million, given the current rate he is currently charging.

“(There is) this new pattern whereby the government is consistently single-sourcing large projects to a single architect (Sir David Adjaye), it is unusual. We have never seen these in this country… what has all of a sudden changed? We appreciate the fact that Sir David Adjaye is a global architect and internationally renowned, but he has been practising for years since 2000. He has been famous around the world. Why is it that from 2018 onwards, we are seeing massive projects being awarded to him without design competition?

“… how can we award the Ghana Trade Fair Centre (which he will be paid $300 million at the current rate)? We decided to do the Ghana Freedom Pavilion in Venice (Italy) and we went for him, … we are going to pay him another $100 for the Agenda 111 project using the same scaling fee he has been applying.

“By the time we are through, we will have paid a single architect more than $300 million as a country. Somebody must ask some questions,” he said.

By: ghanaweb.com