Would Ablakwah, the alleged 2012 judgement debt contractor please update us on the dubious $1.5bn?

Corruption, as a matter of fact, has corrosive effect on the development of a nation, and therefore any effort by anti-corruption crusaders cannot be overlooked anyhow.

Sometime in 2012, the then Deputy Information Minister under the Mills/Mahama administration, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah, acted as a public relations officer for some companies allegedly battling the government over dubious judgement debts(see, Ghana: Okudzeto Ablakwah, the judgement debt contractor-allafrica.com, 20/07/2012).

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the then Deputy Information Minister, unperturbed by Ghanaians stiff resistance, blithesomely went on Joy FM’s news analysis programme, News file, audaciously displaying an alleged letter indicating an abrogated contract between the said company and the Government of Ghana.

In an exclusive interview with The New Crusading GUIDE following Ablakwah’s appearance on the News File, the then lawyer of the said company stated “the NDC government has now become the Lawyer for the company.

From the posture and propaganda of Hon. Ablakwa, it is clear that he has been hired by African Automobile Limited to champion its cause”. The lawyer further accused the Deputy Minister of working against the interest of the people of Ghana (see: ‘$1.5 AAL Judgement Debt, the New Crusading Guide, 02/07/2012). “

Back then, while the sceptics were putting up fierce battle with the view to thwarting the conspiratorial plotters attempts to dupe the country, the stubbornly impenitent judgement debt racketeers were bent on defending the indefensible.

Ghana, as a matter of fact, has been losing billions of dollars since the adoption of the Fourth Republican Constitution to the obdurate nation wreckers who take bizarre delight in fleecing the state to the detriment of the penniless Ghanaians.

Regrettably, the self-styled agents who openly fronted for those companies carried loads of documents and hopped from one radio/TV station to another in a desperate attempt to persuade discerning Ghanaians to buy their scheming guiles.

I recall vividly how the said current NDC MP, who also happened to be a deputy minister in the erstwhile Mills/Mahama administration relentlessly advocated for a known Ghanaian automobile company over an alleged $1.5 billion judgement debt.

Astonishingly, the said vociferous Member of Parliament contended forcefully that in 2001, the then Kufuor’s government knowingly abrogated a contract the Rawlings’s government had with the said automobile company.

The MP, whose main responsibility was to represent his constituents in the Parliament of Ghana, rather chose to represent a private company’s interest.

Bizarrely, the clamorous Member of Parliament insisted back then that the Government of Ghana had breached the contract and must therefore be prepared to pay the judgement debt of $1.5 billion to the said automobile company.

He, however, maintained that the management of the company were willing to negotiate the claim downwards with the Government of Ghana.

Nevertheless, the whole thing turned out to be a conspiratorial plot to swindle the nation. It was indeed a dubious attempt to steal from the national purse.

How pathetic?

The truth of the matter is that sometime in 1999, the then Rawlings’s government contracted the said automobile company to import 86 Mitsubishi Galloper (popularly known as Pajero in Ghana) to be distributed to the local assemblies at the agreed cost of $17 million.

Nevertheless, the 2000 edition of the Mitsubishi never arrived in Ghana until 2001, at the time the NDC government had left office.

However, upon a stern inspection by the incoming NPP government, it came to light that the vehicles were not up to the required standards and specifications.

Consequently, the then NPP government refused to take the delivery of the vehicles.

According to Kufuor’s administration, the supposed new vehicles were never new, after all. Needless to say, the vehicles were slightly used before shipping to our shores.

And, besides the poor standards of the vehicles, there were no authentic documents to ascertain the actual cost of the 86 vehicles, hence the refusal by the then NPP government to accept the delivery.

Clearly, the then NDC government signed the contract without due diligence. How can the supposedly highly educated men and women put pen to paper without due diligence?

You see, my dear reader, even my mother, who had had no classroom education whatsoever, won’t put pen to paper without applying a little bit of critical thinking.

In other words, my mother would prudently ask someone to read thoroughly the details of the contract before putting pen to paper.

So, if the men and women who are supposed to know better, persistently put pen to paper without due diligence, then we have a long way to go as a nation.

In actual fact, there was no judgement debt to be paid to the said automobile company, contrary to the wild claims by the self-styled judgement debt agents that the government was negotiating with the company to settle a reduced amount in respect of the $1.5billion initial judgement debt.

Strangely, however, it was reported that the then NDC government paid a staggering amount of over GH¢8.4million to the company as judgement debt.

It was, somehow, alleged that the first instalment of GH¢2.5million, was paid by the NDC government to the company on 14th May 2010.

While the subsequent payment of GH¢2.5million was paid on 16th July 2010. The last instalment of GH¢3.379million was paid on 2nd October the same year.

Regrettably, in spite of the fact that there was no such thing as judgement debt, some public officials who had sworn to defend the nation were ever prepared to testify against Ghana over a dubious judgement debt.