Kofi Bentil hints of another US$55 million judgement debt for Ghana

Lawyer Kofi Bentil, the Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, has mentioned that Ghana will again lose US$55 million, which is yet another judgement debt to a Chinese company Beijing Everyway due to a case filed by the company in the London Court of International Arbitration.

According to him, some contract signed between Ghana and Beijing Everyway to handle the Accra Intelligent Traffic Management Project was wrongfully breached by the Ghanaian leadership.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsfile monitored by GhanaWeb, Kofi Bentil explained, “The issue of this contract is not that it has been cancelled. It is that it has been rewarded improperly and some people with their eyes open did it in such a way that Ghana now has the liability and we are likely to face that $55 million debt.”

He added, “It is my patriotic duty not to tell everybody that we will win, but to warn everybody and tell them that what we have done is wrong and these people are likely to win. If they win, we will lose 55 million dollars.”

Bentil observed that it would have been less disturbing if Ghana had been slapped with the judgement in that case because of some mistakes and errors in the contract.

Unfortunately, he revealed, “I have sighted warnings from the Vice President’s office suggesting that we should not do this. There were warnings from the Attorney-General’s department that we should watch this, and many others.”

Bentil stressed: “Even if we needed to cancel this, I think we could have done it in a way that will not leave us liable to pay $55 million.”

Kofi Bentil called on parliament to save the country from losing such a huge amount by recalling the contract and fixing the mistakes that have been created.

He indicated that the Accra Intelligent Traffic Management project has not been totally wiped off.

“I think Parliament now can do something to save this country the 55 million dollars,” adding that “Anybody who looks at this arbitration knows that Ghana is going to lose, so we should really really take a very serious view on it.”

A private company Beijing Everyway has filed a lawsuit against the Government of Ghana in the London Court of International Arbitration to demand $55 million from Ghana.

The Chinese company was contracted to implement the Accra Intelligent Traffic Management project worth $100 million after parliament’s approval in 2018.

The company had worked on the provision and installation of some traffic management systems.

Kwesi Amoako Attah, the Minister-nominee for Roads and Highways during his vetting, admitted that his ministry has been served in the judgement case.

However, he failed to give details explaining that “since that legal step has been taken, I would not want to comment on it until the matter is determined”.