‘We can’t retrieve GHc200m GYEEDA money or cancel contracts’

The Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department says it cannot retrieve over 200 million Ghana Cedis owed the state by Service Providers under the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency.

The AG’s Department cannot also cancel contracts as recommended by the Ministerial Investigative Committee which uncovered maladministration and plain stealing in the operations of GYEEDA.

A source at the department said the ministries, governmental ministries, departments and agencies which entered into the contracts with service providers were those who could retrieve the money and cancel the contract and not the AG's department.

In August this year, President John Mahama tasked the AG’s Department, the CID and the Economic and Organised Crime Office to implement the recommendations in the GYEEDA report.

But Joy News checks have revealed that no action has yet been taken and the AG's department says it lacks the authority to take any action.

A Ministerial Committee set up to investigate the GYEEDA contracts presented a report to President John Mahama on July 16, 2013. The report recommended, among other things, restructuring of GYEEDA, cancelation of contracts, retrieval of money from service providers, and the prosecution of government officials involved in financial malfeasance.

The 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 (YESDEC). 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 GH¢203 million to the state.

The president on the advice of a review committee mandated the police CID, EOCO and the Attorney General to implement the recommendations. But Joy News checks have revealed that EOCO and CID are currently investigating alleged criminal conducts and financial malfeasance after which they will present dockets to the Attorney-General for prosecution.

Joy News sources say the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General cannot cancel the contracts and retrieve the over GH¢200 owed the state. The reason is that; the A-G’s Department did not sign those contracts and can only provide legal advice in that regard.

Three months after the committee submitted its report, it is not clear whose mandate it is to cancel the contracts and retrieve the money owed the state. Attempts to get answers from the Presidency and the Ministry of Youth and Sports have failed.