Mahama reluctant to retrieve GH¢50m rLG loans

Information reaching the New Statesman indicates that President John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress government are not keen on retrieving the GHc50 million owed the nation by Roland Agambire, the president’s close associate, going contrary to the recommendations made by the GYEEDA report that uncovered the reckless dissipation of over GHc1 billion under the guise of youth employment creation.

This development is confirmed by the revelation by sources at the Attorney-General’s Department that the A-G cannot cancel the contracts and retrieve the over GHc200m owed the state by companies belonging to Roland Agambire, Joseph Siaw Agyepong and others, that served as Service Providers for the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency.

It is recalled that the Ministerial Investigative Committee that exposed the rot and plain stealing in the operations of GYEEDA revealed that total interest free loans advanced to the companies owned by Mr Agambire stood at approximately GHc50, 000,000.00.

The GYEEDA report noted, however, that there was no evidence that any of these loans granted by GYEEDA to Mr Agambire received approval by Parliament.

The reason for the A-G’s department declining the invitation to cancel the contracts and retrieve the GHc50 million is that the A-G’s Department did not sign those contracts and can only provide legal advice in that regard.

Having full knowledge of this fact, the New Statesman has gathered, President Mahama subsequently asked the Ministry of Youth and Sports, in advance, not to “attempt abrogating” any contracts held by Mr Agambire’s companies, in particular.

Just last weekend, following a meeting at the Peduase Lodge by the President and a select group of his Ministers, the issue of the influence of Mr Agambire on President Mahama, and also on the running of the nation came up for discussion, with many of the Ministers expressing their displeasure.

Already, it is a well-known fact as cited in the GYEEDA report, that Service Providers for GYEEDA projects were heavily skewed in favour of companies owned by Mr Agambire, Mr Agyapong and Mr Agongo.

“This tendered to stifle innovations and new ideas from other potentially capable SPs. There was evidence of individuals owning in excess of eight modules at any single time, with aggregate contract values in excess of one hundred and fifty million Ghana cedis (GHc150, 000,000.00),” the GYEEDA report noted.

It is recalled, the Ministerial Committee recommended the outright cancelation of six contracts after it concluded in its value-for-money analysis that the nation loses millions of cedis every month through those contracts.

They include GYEEDA’s contracts with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Better Ghana Management Services Limited and the Youth Enterprise and Skills Development Centres. The rest are GYEEDA’s contracts with Goodwill Consulting, the Youth in Road Maintenance and the Youth in Zongo Development run by the Zeera Group of companies.

The report cited conflict of interest, as well as lack of value for money as some of the reasons for recommending the cancellation of the contracts. According to the report, companies belonging to the AGAMS Group, the Jospong and the Goodwill International Group Limited, should refund a total of GHc203 million to the state.

The GYEEDA report also noted how private companies are able to “request” Government to apportion state resources in a particular manner for their benefit.

“For instance, in letters dated 28th April, 2011 and 9th January, 2012, Mr. Henry Kangah and Mr. Roland Agambire, National Coordinator of Asongtaba Cottage Industries and CEO of RLG respectively, requested that 50% of the Communications Service Tax (“Talk Time Tax”) be dedicated to the Trades and Vocation module and the remaining 50% dedicated to the ICT module. Mr. Roland Agambire owns both companies. In effect, Mr. Agambire’s demand was for 100% of GYEEDA’s allocation of the CST to be dedicated to companies owned by him. The CST is one of the most reliable sources of funding for GYEEDA,” the report noted.