Year in Review: Most controversial government and business deals in 2023

In 2023, Civil Society Organisations and well-meaning Ghanaians were at the neck of the government whenever it tried to “sneak” in any contract or deal that may not auger well for the country.

TOR-Torentco deal

One such deal which was the TOR-Torentco deal was brought to light by the Vice President of policy think-tank IMANI-Africa, Bright Simons.

When he first spoke about the deal, he alleged that the government’s Public Procurement Authority was quietly leasing the Tema Oil Refinery to a shadowy group called Torentco Asset Management (TAM).

He explained that the Tema Oil Refinery will be leased to TAM for 6 years where Torentco is allowed to refine up to 8 million barrels of oil a year by paying $1 million every year as annual rent.

He added that the group will also pay an additional monthly rent of $1.067 million.

Under the deal, according to Bright Simons, it will pay $0.5 for each extra barrel if it refines more than 8 million barrels.

After various commentaries and opinions on the subject, many of which were not in favour of the deal, the Attorney asked the deal to be halted until due diligence was done.

Lithium mining deal

Ghana signed a 15-year lease agreement with lithium mining company Barari DV Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Atlantic Lithium Limited, to commence the construction and mining of lithium at Ewoyaa in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region.

The deal includes a 10% royalty and 13% free carried interest by the state, surpassing the existing 5% and 10%, respectively, for other mining agreements.

Even though this was not a controversial deal, it came as a shock to Ghanaians since the Bank of Ghana recorded a loss of GH¢60.8 billion.

Documents that surfaced showed that the original value of the Bank of Ghana’s new offices was a little over US$81m but was likely to exceed the US$250m tag given by the Minority in Parliament.

Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a publication dated August 17, 2023, revealed among others that the initial procurement processes for the office started in 2020 contrary to the view that it started under the erstwhile government.

Ablakwa listed 26 points in his post addressing the corporate governance issues from the outset, the issue of tendering and procurement, the companies contracted on the project, and other issues of public concern.

The facility, which currently costs US$250 million according to the Minority in Parliament, has attracted a lot of reactions since the apex bank confirmed that it was indeed building a new head office.

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