Minority exposes Osafo Maafo over UNIPASS deal

78-year-old Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Senior Minister, is reported by the Minority in Parliament to have written to GCNet, proposing to pay off the company with taxpayer’s cash so that they hand over operations of the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) to Ghana Link/UNIPASS.

The revelation comes as a surprise because government has insisted that there would be no judgement debt whatsoever in the proposed takeover of the GNSW by Ghana Link/UNIPASS from GCNet and West Blue.

A press conference addressed by the Minority side of Parliament said the entire Ghana Link/UNIPASS contract does not make economic sense and cited for instance, a portion of the contract which states that although the entire contract is valued at $40 million, the government would be paying an amount of $93 million to Ghana Link, if the contract is abrogated within the first year.

“What would have been logical will be to pay Ghana Link/UNIPASS the remaining value of their contract in the event of a unilateral termination of the contract by Ghana. If it is the contention of the government that this is not the logical thing to do, then on what basis are they in a letter signed by Senior Minister, Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo proposing to pay GCNET the value of the unspent term of their contract? Government needs to furnish Ghanaians with the reason why they accepted US$93 million as the termination fee for year 1”, the Minority statement released by the ranking member on Trade, Yusuf Suleimana, noted.

Not only is Yaw Osafo-Marfo said to have written to GCNet proposing to pay off the company, but the General Manager of the company, Carl Sackey, has confirmed that the same Yaw Osafo-Marfo has written to them directing that they should hand over their systems, which is their own intellectual property to Ghana Link/UNIPASS.

West Blue has also confirmed to have received a similar letter from Yaw Osafo-Maafo.

“Our believe is that the puppet masters pulling the strings for this transaction could only be motivated by what they stand to gain privately. Those people must be reminded that dawn is on the horizon and they will answer”, the statement warned.

The statement also questioned why government seeks to replace a less expensive system that is delivering its mandate with a more expensive one that is unproven, yet to be tested and stakeholders have warned it could disrupt trade facilitation and disrupt government revenue.

“As noted earlier, the combined fees paid to GCNET and West Blue for their services is 0.54% of FOB. With this Ghana Link/UNIPASS deal, government of Ghana has decided, for whatever reason, to pay 0.75% of FOB. This was after granting Ghana Link duty- and tax-free importation of their inputs (which GCNET and West Blue do not enjoy).

“Our question to President Akufo-Addo is; what specific addition is Ghana Link/UNIPASS bringing on to warrant the extra 0.21% of FOB? Why is government providing Ghana Link with inordinately higher fees for a service that is being provided at a lower cost? Ghanaians want to know why they will be paying more for this unproven system”, the Minority statement noted.

BAD RECORDS OF GHANA LINK

It referred to the performance of Ghana Link in Sierra Leone where the country had to terminate the company’s contract because it could not set up and develop a Single Window system there.

“The closest anyone can affiliate Ghana Link to port services delivery is through its subsidiary Africa Link Inspections Company Ltd (ALIC) in Sierra Leone. ALIC was contracted by Sierra Leone to deliver an end-to-end system in 2012 but as at January, 2020 when their contract was being terminated, they were yet to deliver.

“The Company was found not only to have failed to implement important and vital components of their contract, but also to have in connivance with their parent company, Ghana Link, allegedly manipulated financial records for tax evasion purposes. Again, the Sierra Leonean Authorities also found that ALIC had allegedly failed to pay taxes to the tune of Le45 billion. The government has accordingly initiated steps for the abrogation of their contract with the company. In Ghana also, its earlier scanning and valuation service was noted to be poor.

“In spite of these negative factors, our government led by President Akufo-Addo has decided to replace companies that have been delivering improved services and revenues; companies that are acclaimed globally for their capacity and transparency (as shown by the awards mentioned earlier), with a Company that has been found not only to be incompetent and incapable of delivering a Single Window system, but also allegedly, very corrupt. The only reason this can happen is when there are ulterior motives.”

This is not the first time Yaw Osafo-Marfo is having his name tagged with such contractual controversies that become political currency that is used against the government he serves.

When he served under President Kufuor, there were the CNTCI Loan Saga which has its address traced to a hair dressing saloon, and then the McMillan Saga which had too many unanswered questions.

Again serving under Nana Addo, he would be remembered for the Kroll Contract saga, that though no court has pronounced him guilty, public perception has not changed much.