CROP Lauds Presidential Directive

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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