I Never Had Any Contract With Government: Woyome

CONTROVERSIAL WOYOME?

NDC bankroller and business tycoon, Alfred Agbesi Woyome has stated categorically that as an individual, he never entered into any form of contract with the government of the republic of Ghana. Mr. Woyome made the startling confession when he called into Peace FM’s flagship current affairs programme, Kokrokoo, ostensibly, to apply some damage control measures to salvage his rapidly deteriorating reputation.

According to Mr. Woyome the government of Ghana only entered into a contract with Waterville, a construction company he fronts for, to re-construct the Kumasi and Accra sports stadia for CAN 2008. After he had gone round to raise the required funds for the project, and execution of the contract had commenced, the government cancelled its contract with Waterville, failing to pay him Woyome any monies for his services. Admitting that at no point did he enter into any contract with the Ghana government, Mr. Woyome failed to explain why he took a body which he had no contract with to court for any form of settlement, whilst ignoring Waterville, the construction company that recruited him. Seeming very pleased with the way he had gotten the collaboration of former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu, and other elements in the NDC to fleece the country of ¢520 billion, Mr. Woyome stated that another judgment was in the pipeline which was likely to go his way. Alfred Agbesi Woyome a self-declared financier of the ruling NDC and controversial business tycoon has been in the news recently for collecting from the government, an amount of GH¢52million or ¢520billion, being compensation for the abrogation of a contract the government of Ghana entered into with a construction company, which he Mr. Woyome, had a contract with. Questions have been raised in various quarters over the government’s refusal to contest the suit brought against it by Mr. Woyome, choosing instead to pay him the equivalent of about $33 million dollars, especially since he had never had any business dealing with government.

The latest to publicly come forward to give some clarification to what is now known to be a clear case of daylight robbery, is the Chief of Staff in President Kufuor’s administration, Mr. Kojo Mpiani

Mr. Mpiani who was speaking via phone on Joy FM’s current affairs programme, Newsfile on Saturday, believes the state was shortchanged in the process.

“I think the state has just thrown money away and I am glad that the president is asking that there must be an enquiry into it.”

The Deputy Attorney General, Ebo Barton Oduro also told Joy News earlier this week that the state did not pursue the case because it was a bad one. Meanwhile, the president has ordered the Attorney General to explain why it paid Mr. Woyome the controversial ¢52million judgment debt.

But the former Chief of Staff said he never came into contact with or saw Mr. Woyome’s name when he dealt with Waterville (the contractor who started work on the Accra Sports Stadium) or any other contractor on the stadia; “In all these things, the name Woyome never came up so I don’t know where that name is coming from.”

“Couldn’t they (government) have called on any of us to ask us or even if they thought we are political opponents couldn’t they have called even the consultant for the consultant to give them advice?” he asked.

He said the Kufuor government had a contract with Waterville, which was supposed to raise funds to work on the stadia but Waterville failed to carry out their part of the deal.

According to Mr. Mpiani, on 1st August 2006, the Attorney General wrote to Waterville terminating the agreement. He said at the time of termination, Waterville had done some work at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Mr. Mpiani said the then government worked with subcontractors of Waterville, which were Ghanaian companies, to absorb the cost incurred by Waterville.

He therefore called on current government to produce evidence to show that Mr. Woyome had something to do with a company that had its contract abrogated under the Kufuor administration.

But a deputy chief of staff, Alex Segbefia, says government had no option but to pay the debt.

He refuted assertions that the government deliberately failed to put up a defense against the suit filed by Woyome because he is a bankroller of the NDC.

He said from the onset, it was evident that the case was not good but government filed the stay of execution of the court's order to pay the money in order to find an amicable solution to the case.

YAW P. K. MANU Yawp.kmanu@gmail.com