Kufuor's Financial Loss Legacy To Ghanaians

n Paid

£4million to CP in judgement debt

n Paid

£1.5million to foreign lawyers in CP case they lost

n Ordered

by court to pay $3.55million to CALF cocoa

n Ordered

by court to pay $87million in Rockshell case

n Allowed

judgement debt to increase from GH¢50,279.96 to GH¢6million

n Allowed

judgement debt to CCWL to increase from $12million to $29million

n Left

debt of $581,333 & 50,778 in legal fees

Archival search

conducted by the Daily Post reveals

that through sheer vindictiveness, the colossal amount of money ex-President

Kufuor and his cronies caused the state to lose is enough to choke a stubborn

elephant to death.

From illegally

abrogating contracts won by corporate entities to refusing to pay judgement

debts incurred after they have been dragged to court as a result, Mr. Kufuor,

his Attorney-Generals Nana Akufo-Addo and Joe Ghartey as well as other members

of his cabinet caused the nation to lose monies running into trillions of cedis

which could have been used to provide the populace with potable drinking water,

schools, hospitals and other social amenities.

In some cases, they

did not only lose cases at international courts for illegally abrogating

contracts but also ended up paying as much as €1.5 million to the solicitors

they hired.

Dismayed and

appalled at the arrogance, vindictiveness and the colossal amount of monies that

the state was losing as a result

of the judgement debts, a judge, after awarding cost against the state in a

case had this to say;

“It is sad to say the least that Public

Officials who are entrusted with the public good and who are expected to act in

utmost good faith will so create a situation which will result in creating

financial loss situations in the country.”

The judge’s pain is understandable when a cursory study of how some of

the judgment debts came to be incurred is conducted.

Illegally abrogating contracts

*CP vrs AG: Construction and

Engineering firm, CP, dragged the NPP government to court in 2001 for abrogating

four contracts it was

executing. Kufuor and his cronies refused to make payment until CP obtained an

enforcement order of the arbitral award. The NPP Government was forced to

settle to the tune of £4,000,000.00 (Four million pounds).

* Calf

Cocoa v Attorney General: In this case, Calf Cocoa, a joint Ghanaian-Chinese

venture dragged the NPP government to court for refusing to honour an agreement

between the Government of Ghana and Calf Cocoa for the payment of US$1,800,000.00

as working capital, after the

construction of the cocoa processing factory. In addition to the amount of

US$1,800,000.00 claimed by the company, the Government of Ghana was ordered by

the court in its ruling to pay an additional sum of US$1,750,000.00 towards

rehabilitating the factory, together with interest.

· City

and Country Waste Limited (CCWL) Vrs AMA: CCWL sued the AMA

for abrogation of a contract signed in 1997 after the AMA refused to pay it an

amount of $10 million it owed it. The court ruled in favour of CCWL and an

awarded to CCWL the sum of over US$12,000,000.00 inclusive of interests and

all.

HOW much more refusing to pay judgemnet debt caused the state

Instead of negotiating paying judgment debts

quickly or negotiating terms of payment, Kufuor and his cronies simply refused

to pay. The result was that interest accrued so much that in some cases, by the

time the NDC returned to power, the state owed some of the companies which had

dragged it to court more than twice the amount the court had ordered the state

to pay. A few of the examples include;

CCWL Vrs AMA: The $12,000,000 (12 million

dollars)judgment debt awarded against the state rose to $29,000,000 (29 million

dollars) by 2009 because Kufuor and his

cronies refused to pay the initial amounts. AMA appealed to the Court of Appeal

and lost. It then appealed to the Supreme Court.

In a judgment delivered in February 2008, the

Supreme Court did not only agree with the High Court and Court of Appeal, but

further awarded to CCWL interest from July 2001 until the date of the final

payment of the judgment debt.

If the matter had been settled even after the

judgment of the High Court or the Court of Appeal this kind of debt would have

been avoided. This is another case of bad governance

MONEY WASTED ON SOLICITORS :

(i) US $581, 333.00 and £50, 778.37 is

outstanding in respect of legal fees owed Ghana’s foreign solicitors who

handled the CP matter on the country’s behalf. Ghana lost that case and coughed

out $4 million to CP.

(ii) Under the NPP government, a foreign solicitor

hired by the state involving the State and a foreign investor used to be paid

£100,000. This is a case of bad governance. By March 2009, Ghana had paid

almost £1.5 million to the foreign lawyers handling a case between the GOG and

an automobile company.

Of course, Mr.

Kufuor couldn’t care less about the colossal amount of money the state was

losing in so far as he was killing businesses owned by people perceived to be

friendly towards the NDC and especially as he was making so much money from kickbacks.

Sadly, thanks to Martin

Amidu, the docile Attorney-General, Kufuor will soon be a free man who can no

longer be brought to book from January 7, 2012 as it will mark the end of the

three years period during which time legal action can be taken against him for

any act of financial malfeasance which resulted in financial loss to the state.