Gyimah Blows NIB Cash On Akufo-Addo/NPP Campaign

• Over $700,000 gone down the drain With Ghana Telecom (Vodafone) laughing all the way to the bank

If you received automatic campaign message calls on your mobile phone from Ghana Telecom, with the voice of Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) presidential candidate in the 2008 elections asking you to vote for him, then you must know that at the time the hi-tech campaign strategy was airborne, it was people’s hard-earned savings at the National Investment Bank (NIB) that were being blown on the NPP flagbearer’s failed presidential bid by the former Managing Director (MD) of the Bank, Mr Daniel Charles Gyimah.

The Catalyst investigation has discovered that the NIB last month had to cough-up a whooping US$716,256.16 to pay Ghana Telecom (now Vodafone), which took NIB to court because Sky Telecom Limited, which was granted two separate bank guarantees by NIB in favour of Ghana Telecom, which provided the hi-tech campaign services for the Akufo-Addo campaign has defaulted in payment.

An agreement was entered into by Sky Telecom Limited in November 2008 under which Ghana Telecom agreed to provide the former with IVR and Terminal Services for the Akufo-Addo presidential campaign. Sky Telecom however defaulted in payment and NIB had to cough-up the money by a court order.

Solomon Oppong – Twumasi, in a memorandum dated 11th September 2009 signed by him for Head, Legal Department to the Accounts Department of NIB instructed that payment be made to GT covering two separate bank guarantees granted by the bank in favour of GT.

According to the memorandum, “Ghana Telecom took legal action against NIB Ltd for various sums of moneys in respect of certain guarantees granted by the Bank in its favour.”

Indicating the amounts involved, it stated, “The cases are two involving amounts of US$300, 000.00 and US$350, 000.00 respectively. The court asked the bank to pay cost of US$5000.00 in each case and interest to be calculated at 13% p.a from January 2009 till the date of final payment on the judgement.” “Management has given approval for payment orders to be issued to pay Ghana Telecom for the two sums,” the memo further pointed out.

Then in conclusion, this is what it stated, “Please calculate the total sum to be paid in each case to enable the account department issue the payment orders. Please note that the interest calculated should be on the principal sum only exclusive of cost.”

It is mind-boggling how Mr. Gyimah, under questionable circumstances, used the NIB in granting two separate bank guarantees involving such whooping sums of money, belonging to the people of Ghana, to Sky Telecom Limited in favour of GT for IVR and Terminal Services, by which Ghana Telecom delivered automatic random campaign messages by phone calls from Nana Akufo-Addo to cell phones of a wide range of prospective voters in the last elections.

That not withstanding, little did members of the people of Ghana know at the time that it was their hard-earned savings at the NIB, a state bank, that were being blown on the NPP flagbearer’s extravagant campaign by the former MD. But the worse was yet to come. Annoyingly enough, Sky Telecom has defaulted in paying the monies involved. In that case, the NIB which had granted it with the bank guarantees in favour of Ghana Telecom for the hi-tech Akufo-Addo campaign strategy to be effected by Ghana Telecom, had to pay the monies fully to Ghana Telecom, in what looks like another financial loss albatross around the neck of the immediate past NIB boss.

This is a rip-off. Mr. Gyimah must be made to answer why he allowed this fraud to happen with such huge sums of money to be paid by the NIB for Nana Akufo-Addo’s profligate presidential campaign.

Mr Gyimah is already in court answering a charge of causing $60million financial loss to the state for allegedly secretly orchestrating a business deal that ended nowhere.