Jokers At Governance: Comical Ex-Ministers’ Defence Of Aal Gallopers Contract Abrogation Gaffe Falls Flat

Governance is too serious a venture for any government to want to reduce to a platform for performing comedy, since it has at its core the very survival of the society, anchored in the welfare of its people. That is why it is bizarre that the past New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had reduced its 8 long years of the governance of this country to a huge joke, a typical example being the reckless manner it abrogated the lawful contract between the government of Ghana and African Automobile Limited (AAL) for the supply of 110 Hyundai Gallopers to the Ministry of Local government and Rural development.

The action of the NPP government has resulted in a claim of $1.5 billion being made by AAL in judgement debts, which the Mills government is battling the company over, in an out-of-court settlement, for a drastic reduction.
Over the past week, some past NPP government officials had put up a spirited effort to throw dust into the eyes of the public regarding their dereliction of duty in honouring the terms of the contact covering the remainder of 87 of the Hyundai Gallopers, since the state took delivery of 23 before the Rawlings government left power in 2000.

The vehicles were ordered by the Local Government & Rural Development Ministry for use by District Chief Executives (DCEs) across the country. But the NPP government decided to abrogate the contract and left the 87 vehicles, which arrived in Ghana in 2001, to rot away at the expense of the poor Ghanaian taxpayer, as it appears the country will end up paying several millions of dollars for the unused cars.

Reducing the defence of their reckless action to a theatrical performance of a bunch of jokers, of some sort, this is how the ex-NPP government officials took turns to amuse their imaginary Ghanaian audience.

Kwadwo Mpiani

Sounding as arrogant as ever, the Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, the powerful Chief of Staff in the Kufuor-led NPP government had deliberately peddled an untruth that at first on Joy Fm that there were no contract between the government of Ghana and AAL. When the chips were down later on, he changed his tune and said the reason why the NPP government failed to take custody of, and pay for the vehicles was because the Managing Director of AAL felt he was untouchable and that the NPP government wanted to show him where power lies.

Maxwell Kofi Jumah

When Hon Maxwell Kofi Jumah, a Deputy Minister of Local Government & Rural Development took his turn, he bluntly stated that the Hyundai Galloper II vehicles were cheap cars that fall below their NPP government’s standard of vehicles to be used by its officials. In Hon. Jumah’s weird imagination, this was enough grounds for a validly binding contract was abrogated by the NPP government with impunity and the country, several years after that is being asked to pay dearly for it from scare national resources.

Kwadwo Adjei-Darko

A minister of Local Government and Rural Development under whose purview the Gallopers contract falls, Mr Kwadwo Adjei-Darko also made two conflicting statements. First, he was emphatic that there was no contract covering the transaction between African automobile and Ghana. Not too long after that, the former minister changed his position and rather strangely said that he did not see any contract on the transaction and that could explain why his predecessor, the late Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, superintended over the abrogation of the contract.

Charles Bintim

Mr Charles Bintim became Minister of Local Government & Rural Development way after AAL took the matter to court in 2005 but said he had no idea about the Galloper deal, let alone a court suit against the state with his ministry being the focal point of the whole matter.

The Facts As They Stand
The Mills-led (NDC) government is locked up in an out-of-court settlement with AAL, which is demanding $1.5 billion because the company says the Kufuor-led NPP government had unlawfully terminated a contract it had with the government of Ghana in the Rawlings regime in 1999, for the supply 110 Hyundai Gallopers to the Ministry of Local Government.

The decision was borne out of the Ministry’s policy of replacing the District Assemblies’ vehicles every five years.

AAL was invited in 1999 to quote for a replacement of 110 short-chassis Pajero vehicles it had supplied the ministry in 1994 with long-chassis Galloper II vehicles.

Payment for the replacement vehicles was to be made partly from a trade-in of the Pajero vehicles whose values were to be determined by the State Transport Company. The main payment was to be effect out of the Reserve Fund of the District Assemblies Common Fund following Cabinet approval of a Memorandum on the Formula for Sharing 1999 District Assemblies Common Fund containing the Minister’s proposal.
After several meetings and discussions between the Ministry and the Company, the terms of the transaction were agreed and submitted to Cabinet which gave its approval and go-ahead. Thereafter, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development entered into a contract through an exchange of offer and acceptance letters to purchase the vehicles on the terms approved by Cabinet.
Upon two instalment payments totalling ¢8 billion by the Ministry in 2000, 23 of the Gallopers were delivered to the Ministry in the same year and these were allocated to the District Assemblies. The beneficiary District Assemblies returned the short-chassis Pajeros which were valued individually by the State Transport Company and the total value offset against the total cost of the Gallopers.

There was a binding contract between the Ministry and the Company for the supply of 110 Galloper vehicles
The total value of the Galloper vehicles was US$3,322,000, which worked out to US$30,200 each.
The total value of the trade-in Pajeros was US$396,000.
The used Pajeros, which were valued by the State Transport Company in 1999, were each to be inspected and revalued by the State Transport Company by the District Assemblies to be replaced by the Gallopers.
The 23 Pajeros which were delivered to the Company by the District Assemblies who were allocated the 23 Galloper vehicles which arrived when the NDC was in power were individually valued and the cost offset against the total cost of the Gallopers.
An amount of ¢8 billion was paid against the total value of US$3,322,000 (or ¢17,3 billion at the 2000 exchange rate of ¢5,200 to the US$1) for the 110 Gallopers.

Before the Gallopers were imported, 2 of them were supplied by the Company to the Ministry at the instance of the Ministry for trial purposes for a period of 6 months. One was kept and used by the Ministry for the trial purposes and the other was allocated to the Bimbila District Assembly also for trial purposes in rougher terrain. It was upon satisfaction of their performance that the order was placed.

The remaining 87 Galloper vehicles arrived in 2001.

For reasons best known to him, the Auditor-General (and not the Attorney-General) in September 2001 wrote to demand an abrogation of the contract, a refund of the payments made and the prosecution of the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund, the former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and Africa Automobile Ltd because of a delay in the delivery of the 87 vehicles and also that the Company had not given a required guarantee.
The then Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, the late Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, subsequently in the same month wrote to abrogate the contract.
A 5-member BNI panel chaired by one Mr. Akuffo, under the NPP government, investigated the Galloper transaction.

Critical question arising
If the NPP government officials, backed by NPP’s propaganda chief and editor of the New Crusading Guide together with his Coffee Shop Mafia, claim that there was no contract, then which contract did Hon. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu abrogate upon the advice of the Auditor General?

Conclusion

However, The Catalyst has sighted a contract between the government of Ghana and officials of AAL in which the orders of 110 galloper vehicles were made. The contract is a letter signed by the then Chief Director of the Local Government Ministry, S.Y.M. Zanu acknowledging the receipt of a proforma invoice submitted by AAL.

This exposes the comical denials by the ex-ministers that there was a contract between the government of Ghana and AAL for the supply of the Gallopers.
It would be remembered that a similar false claim was made by NPP government in the case of City and Country Waste Ltd against the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) that there was no contract between the company and AMA. When City and Country Waste Ltd went to court, it won damages in excess of US$12 million against the state in judgement debt.

Meanwhile it is emerging that the only reason for the reckless action of the NPP government against AAL was because of its policy of sabotage and vindictiveness against businessmen perceived to be friends of the NDC. The NPP government took several distasteful decisions in line with this agenda and the country under President Mills has had to pay judgement debts in several hundreds of millions of dollars as a result.