We Will Pursue Sahara Deal - Bagbin

Mr Bagbin, the Minority in Parliament, said the recent statements by President Kufuor that he would not institute a probe into the award of contract to the Sahara Oil Company would not stop them from pursuing the matter which is of interest to the state. They have therefore declared their intentions to pursue the issue till they get to the bottom of it because they suspect something fishy about the whole contract.
According to the Minority Spokesperson on Energy, Abraham Kofi Asante, the President knows that if such an investigation is undertaken, the deal surrounding the contract will be uncovered and it will be embarrassing to the government.
Speaking at a press conference organized by the NDC Parliamentary caucus in Western Region, Mr. Kofi Asante said the government’s explanation that the contract was not taken to Parliament for approval because it was between the Tema Oil Refinery and the Sahara Oil Company and not the government is a lie.
The Minority claim that documents that they have laid hands on indicates that the deal was struck between the Government of Ghana and Sahara Oil Company and therefore needed Parliamentary approval. “If the contract was between the Tema Oil Refinery and Sahara, then the Chief Executive of TOR should have signed on behalf of his company and not Kan Dapaah who is the sector Minister.
The Minority’s suspicion is heightened by the fact that though the vessel hired by TOR to lift the oil from Nigeria to Ghana has the capacity to carry 450 barrels, the contract asked Sahara to lift only 430 barrels. Sahara will inturn be paid “special” incentives if it exceeds the 430 barrels when infact the vessel can carry 20 more barrels meaning that the special incentive is unnecessary.
To buttress his point, Mr. Kofi Asante showed reporters a letter purported to have been written by Kan Dapaah to the Chief Executive of Sahara Oil Company in which he stated that they were looking forward to mutual co-operation between the two. “If the contract was not between government and Sahara then what mutual co-operation was he expecting between government and Sahara,” he queried.