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General News of Saturday, 7 January 2012

Source: The Informer

How NPP Plunge Ghana Into

(Part 1 Of Many)

“Opepeepeeepeeeee" Debts

Yet Martin Amidu Is Not Interested But Working

Hard To Stab His Predecessor & Woyome In The Back

Investigative Desk Report

With rather bad impression created by a section of the media and pronouncements of some political commentators leaning to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the wake of judgment debts paid companies and private individuals like the Construction Pioneers and others, and in recent time Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, whose contract with the Government of Ghana (GoG) was wrongfully abrogated, credible investigations carried out by The Informer reveals that the gargantuan financial loss incurred by the state of Ghana arose as a result of the NPP’s bad governance.
In view of the pretty weird comments made by Kwesi Amakye in his evaluation of the President Mills administration, information gathered indicated that, but for the wise decision on the part of the current administration, particularly, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, as then Attorney-General and Minister of Justice the nation, would have been plunged into more debts than what she is saddled with today; as result of mismanagement on the part of erstwhile NPP administration under ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor.
According to this paper’s in-depth search into the huge judgment debts that the nation is expected to cough out, the quantum of it increased substantially during the NPP’s eight (8) years of mismanaging the affairs of the nation, where they arrogantly abrogated people’s contracts ignoring all legal advice offered them, as regards agreement the government had entered into with the various institutions and individual.
Findings also indicate that in situations where the local and foreign courts have ruled that payment should be effected, Kufuor and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government became adamant, resulting in astronomical compounded interests, loss of profit claims and damages, which the NDC administration is now compelled to pay.
With sheer arrogance, regards style of governance, the Informer finds out that instances where the courts had ruled that government make certain payment, the NPP, for political and other reasons refused to pay; the cross and scar the President Mills-led NDC regime is carrying today.
An example of how Kufuor and his NPP government willfully caused the nation huge financial loss; even though Mr. Joe Ghartey as the then Attorney General admitted that cases like that of the CP was tainted with fraud, they were badly managed by the NPP in their 8 years in office.
Even after his (Joe Ghartey) confession, the NPP government refused to settle payment until CP obtained an enforcement order of the arbitral award where they were forced to settle to the tune of 4million Pounds and approximately US$581,333.00 and 50, 778.37 Pounds Sterling outstanding in respect of legal fees for foreign solicitors that handled the matter, even though the foreign arbitral tribunal held the NPP government liable for abrogating four contracts the company was executing.
With regards to the case of Calf Cocoa V. Attorney-General, judgment debt was awarded against government because the NPP government had refused to honour a contractual agreement between the Government of Ghana and Calf Cocoa; for the payment of the sum of US$1,800,000.00 as working capital, after the construction of the cocoa processing factory.
When it became apparent, after the exchange of correspondence, that the NPP government did not intend to pay the sum, Calf Cocoa took the matter to court, and in addition to the amount of US$1,800,000.00 claimed by the company, the Government of Ghana was ordered to pay an additional sum of US$1,750,000.00 towards rehabilitation of the factory, together with interest.
The judge who sat on the case was so outraged by the conduct of the officers and Ministers under the NPP government that this was what she had to say: “it is sad to say the least that Public Officials who are entrusted with the public good and who were expected to act in utmost good faith will so create a situation which will result in creating financial loss in the country”, yet Mr. Martin Amidu is not interested in this, but scheming very hard to stab President Mills in the back, because of some promises made to him.
The above quotation was in direct reference to the two Minister of Finance under the Kufuor-led NPP government and some high ranking public officials by whose conduct the nation has had to pay unnecessary damages, and even the Statesman newspaper, whose political inclination one did not need to ask at the time, severely criticized the NPP government in its July 24 2007 edition for deliberately frustrating the establishment of this company.
This is a 10,000-tonnage Chinese-Ghanaian Plant which has created jobs for Ghana. A classic example of the NPP’s bad governance resulting in the huge financial loss that Martin Amidu is jubilating about and planning as to how to ditch his own colleagues, when there are empirical evidence for him to help Mother Ghana from this unjustifiable burden, by bringing the perpetrators to book.
Being the political agenda of the NPP to milk the coffers of Ghana, Mr. Joe Ghartey, the then Attorney General, filed nothing in court to oppose Rockshell when they sued the state.
It is true that the Rockshell case happened before the Kufuor administration came to office but out of sheer wickedness and hatred for Mother Ghana, Joe Ghartey, instead of taking judgment on a figure before calculating interest, Rockshell calculated compound interest on the figure claimed, took judgment on that and then got the court to award further interest on the resultant figure.
Shockingly enough, even though the summary judgment was obtained in 2007, the NPP never paid a pesewa, only for the NDC government to be confronted with a debt of US$87million, which was later reduced to US$35, 000, 000 as a result of Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu’s prudent negotiation skills.
In the matter of the City and Country Waste Limited (CCWL) following the wrongfully abrogation of contract with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) by the NPP government, the nation coughed out the sum of over US$12,000,000.00 inclusive of interests and all, yet Kufuor’s Chief-of-Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, has the nerve to accused Mr. Alfred Woyome and the NDC government of causing financial loss.
The simple reason the judge gave was that AMA could not use the services of CCWL for about two (2) years without complaining and then refusing to pay for those services, particularly when it was clear from the evidence that CCWL was not to blame for the defect in procedure for the award of the contract.
The AMA went to the Court of Appeal and lost. It then appealed to the Supreme Court. In a judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in February 2008, the Supreme Court did not only agree with the High Court and Court of Appeal, but further awarded to CCWL, interest from July 2001 until the date of the final payment of the judgment debt.

The judgment debt, as we speak now, is close to U$29,000,000.00 at a time that the cedi was nearly as strong as the US dollar. If the matter had been settled even after the judgment of the High Court or the Court of Appeal, this kind of debt would have been avoided. This is another case of bad governance.
Eventually the AMA and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, could have settled for in 2001, but government now has to pay US$29, 000,000.00, so it is completely disingenuous on the part of the NPP to be pointing accusing fingers at the NDC for not doing due diligence in the payment of the judgment debts that they caused.
With all the above-stated evidence, is it not surprising that Mr. Martin Amidu was not bothered one hoot but only collaborate with his so-called God-fathers in the NDC to destroy Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu and Consul Alfred Agbesi Woyome, by circulating memos in the Attorney-General’s Department of his unwillingness to bring to book, those who have caused this nation the gargantuan judgment debts as the President has requested?
Stay tuned for more updates on Martin Amidu and Kufuor in the matter of Financial Losses caused Ghana.