In The Matter Of ¢42million Judgment Debt …
Contrary to media reports and political comments by stalwarts of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), with the loud-mouthed Assin North Member of Parliament (MP), Kennedy Ohene Agyepong leading the pack and sparks; and seeking to create erroneous intuition to mean, that the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu has done the unthinkable by freely handing over to Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome a whopping sum of GH¢42million paid him in judgment debt, credible investigations conducted by this paper show otherwise.
But for the timely intervention and prudent negotiation skills employed by Mrs. Iddrisu, the worse would have happened; which could mean Ghanaian taxpayers losing further millions of Cedis down the legal drain.
That followed the irrational decision on the part of former President John Agyekum Kofi Diawuo Kufuor and his Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, who unilaterally abrogated a contract legally signed, and duly awarded, between government and the judgment-creditor company, through procurement.
Per plausible documents in the Informer’s possession, Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome would have been walking home with over One Hundred Million Ghana Cedis after Entry of Judgment by the Commercial Division High Court, sitting in Accra on May 24th, 2010, when government reneged on its promise to pay the negotiated amount of GH¢41,811,480.59.
The Ghana government would have paid a whopping amount of GH¢105,565,548.42 per that judgment by His Lordship, Justice Amadu Tanko, being the total debt through a legal action initiated against it by the Solicitors, Peasah-Boadu & Co on behalf of their client, Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome.
It was revealed during critical study of the documents, that, Madam Betty-Mould Iddrisu, sensing the danger of how damaging the ruling was, and the additional cost being incurred as a result of the failure on government’s part to honour its promise, again met with Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome and his Solicitors, whereupon passionate deliberation, the Plaintiff, Agbesi Woyome, out of magnanimity accepted to be paid the amount initially agreed on, being the two percent (2%) of the total value of the project as regards to the breach of agreement by the Government of Ghana.
Against the scenery that Mr. Alfred Woyome was not entitled to the money paid him, it came to fore during this paper’s in-depth search that, the Plaintiff, had actually done some financial engineering works for the Kufuor administration towards the rehabilitation of the Accra, Kumasi and other stadiums that were used for the CAN 2008 tournament.
Therefore, the good sense of judgment on the part of Madam Betty Mould Iddrisu prevailed, to save Mother Ghana from likelihood of losing over 60 million Ghana cedis, in additional cost as awarded against the State, following the legal battle fought by the Solicitors of Mr. Woyome. It was disclosed during our investigations that, the contract which was unilaterally abrogated by ex-President Kufuor and his Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, under the premise of ‘maximizing cost’, rather went up, when the Shanghai Company took over from Waterville Holdings (BVI) Limited. It also came to light that, the facilities that should have come with rehabilitation of the various stadia were not provided.
From the sterling revelations, it may, therefore, sound absurd to hear NPP and its media hirelings accuse the Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, for any wrongdoing in this case, indeed, the A-G rather seems to have saved Ghana even huge amount that would have gone down the drain.
It is also important however, that a serious probe be instituted into the matter so that all those found culpable be brought to book; and, therefore, His Excellency Professor John Evans Atta Mills, needs to be supported, for his decision to help unfurl the mystery surrounding the whole issue.
