Arrest Joe Ghartey & Co

Another call has been made to the Attorney-General, Dr. Ben Kumbuor, to immediately arrest and prosecute five Former Attorney-Generals and a Former Chief of Staff who, through negligence, caused a huge financial loss to the state in the matter of the payment of judgement debt to Construction Pioneers (CP), a German construction firm.

The five Former Attorney-Generals who all served under the NPP are Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Papa Owusu Ankumah, Ayikoi Otoo and Joe Ghartey while the Former Chief of Staff is Kwadwo Kyere Mpiani. At a press conference last week, the Tertiary Educational Institutions Network (TEIN) of the NDC, UDS, Wa Campus, said their call is in support of the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC)’s call last week after their own investigations showed that indeed the six ex-Ministers through acts of omission and commission caused Ghana to lose €94 million. Below is the full statement read at the press conference by Mahama Yussif, the President of TEIN of UDS, Wa campus: “We the Tertiary Educational Institutions Network of The NDC in our quest to safeguard our national resources and create a platform for sincere accountability, probity and judicious use of our national resources wish to use this august platform to add our voice to the call by the coalition against corruption for the immediate prosecution of ex-ministers of state who were appointed as attorney generals under the auspices of president Kufuor. Ladies and gentlemen, intelligence information that we have gathered all point to the fact that, allegations of corrupt practices, abuse of public office and sheers negligence of duty brought against Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Papa Owusu Ankumah, Ayikoi Otoo, Joe Ghartey and Kwadwo Kyere Mpiani by the Coalition Against Corruption amount to a verified truism. We therefore find it a step in the right direction to add our voice to those of other well meaning Ghanaians to call on the Attorney General to immediately institute criminal charges against the afore mentioned names for their atrocious crimes committed against the state.

However, we wish to caution the Alliance for accountable government (AFAG) and its mother organization (the NPP) not to reduce this national quest for probity and accountability to partisan gains as the mess they left behind in terms of judgment debt and salary arrears are yet to be totally cleared. Indeed, In Paragraph 86 of the 2010 Budget Statement, the Honourable Minister stated that: “The quantum of these court judgment debts increased substantially over the past eight years due to bad governance. In situations where the local and foreign courts had ruled that payment should be effected, government was adamant. This resulted in astronomical compounded interests, loss of profits claims and damages which we are now compelled to pay.” So there were situations where the courts had ruled that government should make certain payments and yet the NPP for political and other reasons refused to pay those amounts. The recent Public Accounts Committee sitting on GTV showcased clearly, the bizarre nature the NPP handled court rulings and yet refers to themselves as veterans of rule of law when they openly disregarded court orders. The PAC sitting also showcased the determination of Madam Betty-Mould Iddrisu assisted by the NDC government to reform the AG’s department by clearing most outstanding court orders in relation to judgment debts. What more could be termed as a sincere attempt at reform?

Indeed, TEIN UDS Wa Campus lauds the bravery and overt display of good citizenship by the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) in demanding justice and fairness from the Attorney General’s Department, for there is no gainsaying that there are gloomy clouds of uncertainties surrounding the Ghana government CP contract termination judgment debt paid to ghana@50 contractors, the sale of Ghana telecom to Vodafone and indeed the alleged purchase of toy generators for V.R.A. by Dr. Wereko Brobbey, among others. We are equally of the view that the ninety-four million Euros paid to Construction Pioneers is due to the sheer negligence of duty by the NPP stewards. Ladies and gentlemen, what beats our imagination is the fact that, all these former ministers of state mentioned in the petition had every opportunity beneath the sun to salvage the republic of Ghana from been plunged to such a huge debt. We are reliably informed by the verdicts of international tribunals that the government of Ghana erred in illegally abrogating the contract between the government of Ghana and the Construction Pioneers without passing through due processes; we are also informed that an amount of one-hundred and fifty million Euros was the initial sum claimed by CP plus interest. The Ghana government under the leadership of JA Kufuor refused to settle the claim despite repeated advice from their own ministers such as Dr. Anane. The bizarre fact is that some of the certificates were undisputed and had been verified by the Ghana Highways Engineers and yet after shamefully abrogating the CP contracts in 2001 they still refused to pay those certificates. Why hasn’t anyone revealed that the initial fourteen million euro payment in March 2009 was endorsed by the former AG based on a warrant already raised by the NPP’s Dr. Akoto Osei 3 years after the Final Arbitral Award with Euro interest of over 8000 mounting daily? We were shocked when the Hon. AG stated at his masterful and brilliant PAC appearance that the refusal of the former government to settle the awards which were binding on Ghana result in the CP debt accumulating interest to the whooping sum of six-hundred and thirty million Euros. It only took a diligent and reputable Attorney General in the person of Hon. Betty Mould Iddrisu to salvage the nation by effectively negotiating this gargantuan sum from 630 million to an appreciable 94 million Euros, a kind gesture for which the perpetrators of the crime turn to wrongfully castigate her. As we share the view that these ex-ministers of state caused the state plenty harm by sitting by our pot and watch our food burn, we are most a times amused of the fact that these same people alleged to have willfully caused financial loss to the state, behave like the proverbial toad that eats pepper and expect the lizard to sweat.

We have followed the most recent revelations of the judgment debts paid by the NPP government on the 7th Jan. 2009! We are amazed that by their own admission the NPP willfully refused to take delivery of the over 80 4WD Hyundais and Gallopers ordered by African Automobiles and left them to rot in the open for 8 good years. Our diligent sources tell us that the claim had ballooned to 8billion US$ in 2009! The importers of these vehicles brought law suits against the courts in different courts across Ghana and have indeed received several judgment debts awarded against various MDA’s over the years. Nothing was paid for years! We are shocked by the twists and turns that Kufuor’s former Ministers and his Chief of Staff are desperately trying to put on this case as well. Ghanaians need to beware of these mischievous interpretations. The fact is that there was a mess by the NPP’s mismanagement and blatant disregard of the judgment debts issue during their tenure in office. The huge and ballooning interest payments, lost profit claims etc awarded by courts on contracts which were recklessly abrogated by the former government are real issues which need to be interrogated by well meaning Ghanaians.

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, we are adding our voices to that of the Coalition Against Corruption to call on Hon. Dr. Benjamin Kumbour to bring charges against Nana Akufo Dankwa Addo, Papa Owusu Ankomah, Ayikoi Otoo, Joe Ghartey and Kwadow Kyere Mpiani for willfully causing financial loss to the state. We would also wish to state that we shall join the Coalition in using other lawful approaches such as sit ins, barricading ourselves in the office of the Attorney General as well as occupying the law courts to demand justice.”