Kufuor, Aliu talk to Public Agenda

President John Kufuor leaves Ghana for Tokyo, Japan, on Friday on the first leg of a state visit that will also take the Ghanaian head of state to the People’s Republic of China.

Weekend Agenda can report authoritatively that while in the Japanese capital, President Kufuor will append his signature to a document that will enable Ghana access an $80m (about ?640b) facility for the reconstruction of the Accra-Cape Coast Road into a dual carriage way.

The President told Weekend Agenda at his office at the Castle, Osu that his trip to the Far East, at the invitation of the governments of the two countries, is part of his administration’s quest to source capital and technology to help transform the appalling infrastructure base of Ghana.

The President said the good news in the impending trip is that the Japanese have invited him to finalise arrangements that will transform the $80m credit facility into a grant. “We have the goodwill of many nations who have made it to aid our reconstruction exercise. We have to keep knocking on their doors.

Unfortunately, a number of Ghanaians, particularly newsmen do not seem to understand that if you don’t move you are unable to attract the capital to improve your lot,” the President said, with his Vice Alhaji Aliu Mahama in tow.

He said the Japanese are not too keen on the HIPC initiative so it has taken quite a while to access capital for the Accra-Cape Coast Road, which is part of the trans West Africa Highway. “The initial negotiations were for credit facilities to reconstruct the road which is in a very deplorable state. But the Japanese are now in a position to convert it into a grant. This is a great relief to my government and people of Ghana.

President Kufuor said when he took over the administration of this country on 7 January 2001, the administration faced the challenge of running a nation without resources. Oil supply had almost run out. I had to rush to Nigeria to meet President Obasanjo to negotiate a deal for Nigeria to supply Ghana 30,000 barrels of crude oil a day. If we had not got the Sahara deal, this country would have virtually grounded to a halt.”

Sounding disappointed by the wave of criticism that greeted the Sahara deal, President Kufuor said there was no other motive than to save a sticky situation. “Right in President Obasanjo’s office where the deal was concluded, the Sahara people said they would lift the crude oil to Ghana. I said fine. And they did. In any case, we got a fairer economic rate from Sahara than what Vitol was offering.”

He asked Ghanaian newsmen not to hesitate to contact his office for information on any issue. “This is an open government. We are obliged to give information. Why do you (newsmen) shy from coming to ask? He asked rhetorically.

On the Police vehicles, President Kufuor said President Obasanjo only called the chief executive of the vehicle assembling company and asked him to help a colleague head of state from Ghana who is in dire need of assistance. “Obasanjo did not pay a naira and did not promise to pay anything. All he did was to facilitate our meeting together. Initially, I offered to pay the debt over a five-year period. But that was not possible. So we agreed to defray the total cost in two years.

The President expressed disappointment at the negative press reports about the two negotiations in Ghana, which has had a snowball effect in Nigeria. “I’m not happy at all with the way the whole affair was conducted in some media circles here. Following the publications of what has no bearing on the truth.

The Nigerian senate added the Sahara and the Police vehicles issues to charges they preferred against President Obasanjo in the impeachment charges they preferred against him. I don’t think that is right. You want to help a friend in distress and the media in the friend’s own country help to put you in trouble. It is not right.”

Vice-President Aliu Mahama intimated that President Kufuor would negotiate with the Chinese authorities on the second leg of his visit for the Chinese to construct an Olympic Stadium Complex in Ghana. “There have been initial contacts. President Kufuor will raise the issue and everything being possible, we could have the stadium. Both of us have good sporting backgrounds. Improving upon sports in this country is a major concern to this administration,” the Vice-President said.