West Blue Judgement Debt: 'Dr. Bawumia was against this mess' – Franklin Cudjoe

The Acting Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has disclosed that a judgment of GH¢95 million has been awarded against the government of Ghana for the termination of a contract with IT consultancy firm, West Blue Consulting, under which the company provided technical and support services to the GRA from 2015 to 2020.

The Founder and President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, who stated that his outfit was involved in the case, said that the payment of the GH¢95 million judgement debt was completely avoidable.

He claimed Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia was aware of the issues surrounding the judgement and was devastated.

He said that the vice president and his Economic Management Team were completely ignored in the deal and he had no power to stop it even though he was so unhappy about it.

“And on this one, IMANI was so much involved that I personally saw a very depressed and exasperated Vice-president Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia who couldn't do anything to stop the process. Here he wasn't the driver, he wasn't even a mate. He and his Economic Management Team were simply shoved aside. The finance minister, Ofori-Atta, and the Trade Minister, Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, at the time spearheaded this and here we are with a debt that was totally avoidable,” Franklin Cudjoe wrote on X on July 30, 2024.

He added, “This is just easy money for lawyers of West Blue. It hurts because sometimes it smells like create, loot and share.”

Kofi Bentil, a vice president of IMANI Africa, also in a post shared on X on July 30, 2024, corroborated the claims made by Franklin Cudjoe.

He said that the vice president's opposition on the West Blue deal is one of the reasons he supports him.

He indicated that Dr. Bawumia, the Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was against the payment of the judgement debt but he was overruled.

“This is another reason why I support Dr. Bawumia. As you see in Franklin’s post, Dr. Bawumia was against this mess but the people in real power overruled him and proceeded to wreck things. The Office of the VP needs to be strengthened or scrapped!!! How can a person be head of EMT, but not have real power to do things or stop things he disagrees with like this mess and E-levy. I am assured that when he becomes President, he will correct a lot of wrongs,” he wrote.

About the West Blue judgement debt:

West Blue Ghana Limited has sued the Government of Ghana over supposed GH¢289 million arrears for work done under the National Single Window and Integrated Risk Management System contract executed in August 2015.

The choice of law firm contracted by West Blue, Africa Legal Associates, which was co-founded by New Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwart and cousin of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, raised many eyebrows.

Some Ghanaians, including a vice chairman of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, have said that the suit smells of an attempt to “create, loot and share” the country’s resources.

He alleged that the suit was filed after an initial attempt to settle the judgment debt on the case failed.

Copies of the court document shared by Bright Simons showed two alternative sets of reliefs West Blue was seeking from the government.

The first set of reliefs had about four recoveries which sum up to over GH¢300 million plus interest and other payments.

The second set of reliefs included a recovery sum of US$425,000, interest payment, damages and cost of the arbitration.

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