Controversial deals recorded under Akufo-Addo’s watch

Since assuming power in January 2017, there have been several allegations of corruption under President Nana Akufo-Addo’s rule.

Right from being accused of being corrupt, covering up corrupt practices of his appointees and not properly addressing the issues, Akufo-Addo’s government has had its share of indictments of financial misappropriation.

Despite being able to scale through most of these corruption allegations, it has left stains on their mantra of being a corrupt-free administration to the extent some political experts are predicting these scandals will come back to haunt them in the 2020 general elections.

Below are some corrupt’ International deals recorded under the NPP government

1. Ameri scandal

Signed by the NDC administration at the height of the power outages that rocked Ghana from 2014, the NPP declared the deal as fraudulent and vowed to cancel it if they win power in 2016.

They, however, failed to abrogate the contract after assumption of office but instead attempted to renegotiate it, leading to the dismissal of the then energy minister, Boakye Agyarko, after it became clear that Ghana had to pay more than the initial amount for the deal.

2. BOST - Gh15m Contaminated fuel

This is a scandal that caused Ghana about GH¢15 million in revenue following moves by the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST) to sell contaminated fuel to non-existing oil companies.

Documents sighted revealed that BOST agreed and sold 5 million liters of contaminated fuel to non-existing Movenpinna Energy, ZUPOIL.

3. $178 GVG Kelni/NCA deal

The Ministry of Communication signed a $178 million 10-year contract with KelniGVG to provide call monitoring and revenue assurance, all of which an existing company, Afriwave, and NCA have the capacity to do.

KelniGVG which is known for the supply of building material and groceries has no specific office locations, non-functioning website and reliable contacts for the new project according to reports.

4. $2.25bn Bond Saga

CHRAJ investigated the issuance of the bond following allegations of conflict of interest against Mr. Ofori-Atta by the Minority and subsequently cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Minority raised questions about the manner in which the $2.25 billion bond was issued adding that 95% of the $2.25 billion was sold to Franklyn Templeton, a company whose director Trevor Trefgarne, also doubles as the Director of Enterprise Group, a company partially owned by the Finance Minister.

It was detected also, the rate at which the bond was sold had been "cooked" to favor the buyer and that the deal was shrouded in secrecy to prevent others from bidding to buy the bond.

5. $2bn Sinohydro loan

Parliament in July 2017 approved the agreement between Ghana and Sinohydro Corporation Limited for the construction of priority infrastructure projects.

The country was required to pay for the infrastructure with refined bauxite.

Prior to its approval, majority and minority members of Parliament (MPs) had disagreed on whether the facility was a loan or a barter arrangement.

But analysis proves, only 18% of the amount of $263 million that the government is required to pay annually over a 12-year period, can be paid.

This means the payment of $4.5 billion (2 billion facilities plus interest) cannot be paid with this scheme according to ACEP.

6. PDS saga

In the midst of ECG’s struggle to make a profit over many years, PDS became the first private company to manage the affairs of ECG after Ghana won the Power Compact II to inject some $900 million into power distribution.

Following the agreement, it has been alleged that the government was “shirking” the original Power Compact II agreement to handover the management of ECG to cronies in the NPP as initial investigations into the power agreement points to a grand plan by PDS to deceive the state.