Dr. Duffour and NDC lies exposed about the TOR debt.

I believe many people are still confused and upset about the way President Mills and his NDC government have been lying and telling Ghanaians difference figures every day about the TOR debt.

I ask, was there really any debt left at TOR by the NPP government at all? And if there was, why can’t the current government (NDC) tell Ghanaians the truth about the actual amount of debt they inherited. So far we’ve had over five different versions of the TOR debt, all quoting different figures.

One account puts it at $630 million while another says it is over one billion dollars. However, the former governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Paul Acquah, who was also a member of the Transaction Advisors appointed by the government of Ghana to restructure the debt told the media that the TOR debt is $608 million up to September, 2009.

According to Joy business news report, it quoted the finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffour disclosing the TOR debt at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday 25 March 2010 with another controversial figure. Dr Duffour said, the debt, estimated at over GH¢1 billion, has been accumulated as a result of several years of under-recovery of petroleum prices. The Ghana News Agency report from the same press conference quoted Dr. Duffour saying, TOR is GCB’s major creditor and as at the end of December 2008, the overdraft position at GCB was approximately GH¢598 million (approx US$427 million), mainly in the form of established letters of credit, which crystallises into overdraft facilities. That “the Government on Wednesday paid GH¢445 million to settle part of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR’s) indebtedness to Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB)”. According to the Minister, the debt had since grown from GH¢598 million in December 2008 to GH¢848 million March 2010 (approx US$606 million) because of the interest that had accrued on it and with the payment, the balance left was about GH¢403 million. I guess the question Ghanaians would be asking is, the debt, is it $1billion, $630 million, $608 million, GH¢1 billion or GH¢848 million? Who is telling Ghanaians the truth? According to Dr. Duffour, the NDC government inherited only GH¢598 million debt in December 2008 at TOR, which increased to GH¢848 million in March 2010 through interest accrued in that short period of time. Now Dr Duffour, if the debt is currently GH¢848 million, why quoting it as over GH¢1 billion? The question I believe people will be asking is if within 14-months in NDC government, the accrued interest alone is over GH¢250 million, then how long did it take the NPP government to incur the said debt of GH¢598m at TOR with the interest? It is also on record that when the NDC took over power in January 2009, the oil imported and reserved which was handed over to the NDC government was enough to suffice Ghana for more than four months. This oil was said to have been imported to Ghana on 90-day credit before NDC took over. It was expected that after the sales of the reserved oil, the NDC government should have paid the debt with the money proceeded therefrom. The question is, where did the money go, and to whose pocket? The debt left was equivalent to the proceeds of the oil reserved. It is very clear that the NDC government within barely one-and- half years have really damaged the credibility of GCB to the point that it cannot compete favourably within the financial system in Ghana. The inability of the NDC government to manage the TOR debt has also caused the GCB to suffer 50% drop in profit in 2009 compared to the previous year. This was contained in the annual report issued by the bank for the last fiscal year, that the profit after tax stood at GH¢18.8 million which was 50 percent below the 2008 figure of GH¢37.6 million. The report also said the bank’s net operating income also declined from the previous year’s figure by some 7 percent to GH¢165.5 million.

The total operating expenses however went up by 18 percent to 140.7 million Ghana Cedis. Why? This is obviously an abysmal way of managing the affairs the nation.

In fact, the Board Chairman told the shareholders that the dip in profit was largely due to the indebtedness of the Tema Oil Refinery to which GCB is a major lender. Whose fault was it and what went wrong? If really there was a debt, how come that NPP government was able to manage GCB to gain a whopping profit of GH¢37.6 million and the NDC government cannot manage it. This is a clear reflection of the state of Ghana’s economy today. The economic growth rate by the end of 2009 was between three to four per cent according to IMF’s report on Mar 27, 2010 compared to GDP growth of 7.3% in 2008.

Today, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects Ghana’s economy to expand by 4 to 5 per cent this year, boosted by investments linked to the offshore oil sector, which will come on stream in 2011. I want to ask, how long should it take NDC government to march up with the NPP government in terms of GDP or economic growth, NPP with no oil prospects?

Please Mr. President, it is really becoming very embarrassing to hear you and your ministers taking refuge in excuses and blaming the previous government for leaving a colossal economy for you. Please, the Ghanaians need solutions not complaints and excuses.

Peter Antwi Boasiako Anpet2000@yahoo.com London, Romford Essex.