CROP LAUDS PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE FOR IMMEDIATE
INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE WOYOME SCANDAL:
It is with great delight that the Coalition for
Responsible Opposition (CROP) greet the directive of His Excellency Prof. John
Evans Atta Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana, for an immediate
investigation of the matter involving the payment of approximately Fifty Two Million
Ghana Cedis (Ghc 52m) and over
twenty five million Euros (€25m) by the state to Mr. Alfred Woyome and Waterville
(BVI) respectively, following a court order in the matter of the illegal
abrogation of contract by the Kuffour cabinet of 2005/2006 against
Van/Waterville Company.
The directive which comes a day after the coalition’s
petition to the Economic and Organize Crime Office (EOCO) and copied to the president,
for an investigation to be undertaken into the matter, and for sanctions to be
preferred against any individuals found culpable of causing financial loss to
the state, is in the view of the coalition a step in the right direction.
Although the coalition deems the presidential
directive as typical of the President's anti-corruption stance, it sees the
call as an essential initiative at restoring global confidence in Ghana's
war on corruption.
The coalition is confident that the EOCO will
exert itself fully in the discharge of this directive, and calls on the entire
Ghanaian public to lend its full support to the EOCO in the execution of this
mandate.
May we all be reminded that probity and
accountability is our collective civic responsibility to Ghana.
Long live Ghana.
Signed:
Akyena Brantuo Benjamin
Member, CROP and lead Petitioner
benakyena@yahoo.com
(pls find attached copies of the original petition )
19th December 2011
The Executive Director
The Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO)
Old Parliament House
Accra, Ghana
Dear Sir/Madam,
PETITION TO INVESTIGATE FORMER PRESIDENT KUFUOR
AND THE GOVERNMENT CABINET OF 2005/2006 FOR WILFULLY CAUSING FINANCIAL LOSS TO
THE STATE
On September 6, 2010,
In the High Court of Justice, Commercial Division, His Lordship Mr. I. O. Tanko
Amadu ordered the State of Ghana to pay a judgment debt of approximately Fifty
Two Million Ghana Cedis (Ghc 52m) to Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome and over twenty
five million Euros (€25m) was paid to Waterville (BVI) through Arbitration.
By this development,
the State of Ghana has lost huge sums of the tax payers’ money through the
abrogation of a contract by former President John Agyekum Kufuor and his
cabinet, to Waterville/Vamed Engineering, which event occurred on August 22,
2005. The Central Tender Review Board in accordance with the Public Procurement
Act 2003, Act 663, had awarded the contract to Waterville/Vamed Engineering on
August 5, 2005. The contract was finally signed between Government of Ghana and
Waterville on
April 26, 2006.
Additionally,
although no evidence has been adduced to the public as yet to show that
Shanghai Construction Group; the company which finally executed the contract
mentioned supra, formally bid to undertake the job, my checks also show that
Shanghai Construction Group did not demonstrate proof of technical and
financial capabilities, which were the basic qualification requirements set out
by the LOC/MOEYS, and formed the primary criteria for rejecting other
companies who subjected themselves to the highly rigorous bidding process. I
refer you to Cabinet memo as attached.
I also find it
disturbing, that government funded the project with a Commercial loan of about
two hundred and fifty million dollars ($250m) at a variable interest of around
10%, a decision that was against governments’ own advertised procurement
financial requirement. It also contradicted the Judgment of the Central Tender
Review Board, who upon careful assessment of proposals, were satisfied with the
capacity of Waterville/Vamed Engineering to finance the contract with a soft
loan of about €1.2b with a 15% pure grant and the rest at 2.1% fix interest
rate, coming from an A+++ Bank, Bank of Austria, guaranteed by the World Bank’s
MIGA.
Although the Hon. Yaw
Osafo Maafo, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports at the time had
cautioned the then government through a cabinet memo dated 27th July
2005 about the implication of their actions, and Colin Russell, lawyers of
Waterville/Vamed Engineering had written to government on the August 27, 2005
threatening possible future legal action against government if contracts duly
awarded to their clients were illegally terminated, copies attached, the Kufuor
cabinet ignored the caution and proceeded to terminate the contract.
Sir, as a tax-paying
citizen of Ghana, I am
deeply concerned about the possible breach of Ghana’s procurement law, a
situation which potentially undermines our collective efforts at combating
corruption. I am also deeply troubled by the fact that the indiscretion of
public officers in this matter has caused financial loss to the state through
payment of Judgment debt, and in servicing avoidable high interest rates on Commercial
loans.
These monies, which
are taken from the consolidated fund, will have dire negative repercussions on
development projects being undertaken by the state in areas of Education,
Health, Social, Infrastructure and jobs creation for our people.
I respectfully call
on your outfit to thoroughly investigate the following;
1.
The possible act of willfully causing financial loss to the state, in view of
the circumstances leading to the loss of the amount mentioned above.
2. To identify all public
officials who through the performance of duty and/or exercising of discretion
may be complicit in any instance of financial loss found by your enquiry?
3. To recommend appropriate
sanction against any and all officials found culpable in the affair of causing
financial loss to the state through willful negligence, etc.
In my considered
opinion, your findings and recommendations will repose confidence in Government
amongst the Ghanaian public and tax-payers who expect public officials
entrusted with the management of their moneys to judiciously and proficiently
manage such funds.
To a large extent, I
am convinced that your enquiry and findings will not only enhance our stature
internationally in matters of financial propriety and transparency and build
confidence in the tax-paying public of the states commitment to securing their
best interest, but also, will go a long way to legitimize the moral obligation
of continual tax payment by Ghanaians; many of whom get by on meagre earnings.
Finally, it will be
in keeping with the recommendations made by the Auditor-General in his 2010
report on the Consolidated Fund. He advised that “to save the state from
incurring such avoidable expenditure (being judgment debts), any public officer
whose negligence leads to the imposition of debt on the state should be
surcharged accordingly.”
Yours
Faithfully,
Signed,
Akyena Brantuo
Benjamin
P.O.BOX
1288
ACHIMOTA, ACCRA.
benakyena@yahoo.com
+233244825187
NB: This Petition takes precedence over my earlier
petition dated 15th December, 2011 on the above.
Cc
The President Of Ghana
Osu Castle,
Accra, Ghana
The National Security
Coordinator
National
Security Secretariat
Accra, Ghana.
The Attorney General And
Minster for Justices
Ministries,
Accra, Ghana
The Director Of CID,
Ghana
Police Service
Accra, Ghana
The Speaker Of Parliament
Parliament
House
Accra-Ghana
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