Timber contracts to go

Accra (Greater Accra) 03 May 2002 - The Minister for Lands and Forestry Prof Kassim Kasanga has recommended to the President to withdraw all Timber Utilisation Contracts awarded in 2000.

This follows a petition to the government by some timber contractors to the effect that the modalities used in the award of the contracts were not fair. The suspicion of unfairness on the part of the aggrieved contractors stems from the fact that one contractor alone got up to about ten concessions.

The Statesman’s investigation has however shown that the contracts were awarded based on stated criteria, which was known to the timber contractors themselves and to all stakeholders in the timber industry. Among the conditions that a contractor had to satisfy were, first of all, to show a workable plan of action on how the forest or concession area will be replenished.

But most importantly the contractor had to show to the contracts awarding committee that it had the capacity to execute the job. These, among other factors, informed the outcome of the contract awards. Contractors were scored in a range of 1-10 on all the criteria.

At the end of it the committee tallied the over all marks acquired by each contractor to arrive at the awarding decision. According to the committee it was only at the end of the tally that it realised that one contractor had got as many as ten concession areas. Even though the committee satisfied itself that the awards reflected the true spirit of the criteria, it still decided to reduce the ten concessions granted to one contractor alone to four. This was done to ensure some form of equity and balance.

The Company petitioned the then President J.J. Rawlings who commissioned a committee to look into the matter. The committee was of the view that there was no justification in reducing the number of concessions that the company had won.

Meanwhile, after the contract awarding committee had reduced the company’s number, it went ahead to award it to other companies which came second, for which the then Minister for Lands and Forestry issued offer letters.

So when the then President’s committee asked that the concessions be given back to the man who had won them originally, all hell broke loose. In the heat of it the 2000 elections were conducted and the NDC lost. The aggrieved contractors then petitioned the new government to look into the matter again, for which the current Minister for Lands and Forestry has recommended that all the contracts be scrapped.

This however, raises more questions than answers. Why should all the other contractors who won awards suffer because one contractor got more than perhaps his fair share? Why will government not zero in on the one contractor whose case is the subject of controversy.

The criteria used for the awards were instituted by an act of parliament. On what basis therefore will the government be setting aside the law of Parliament? The Statesman will monitor developments in this matter and will inform readers as and when events unfold. – The Statesman.