At least let us be fair to Woyome

Unsurprisingly, most well-meaning Ghanaians have been urging the powers that be to probe and arraign the alleged accomplices of Woyome before the law courts, following the Supreme Court’s directive to the Government of Ghana to sell the identified properties of the litigious Woyome towards the repayment of the dubious GH51.2 million doled to him by the erstwhile NDC government between 2009 and 2010.

The exponents of mass prosecutions, so to speak, have a valid point in the sense that, if Woyome had no contract with the Government of Ghana, and yet he was paid such a huge amount, then some people may have either been negligent or conspired with the protagonist.

In retrospect, the scandalous judgement debt payment took place during Mills/Mahama administration between 2009 and 2010.

It is on record that the disobedient appointees within the late Mills government took advantage of his leniency and flouted the good old Mills orders and doled out the staggering amount to Wayome, who had no contract with the Government of Ghana.

Mind you, the late Mills was an excellent human being and a real patriot who meant well for his country. But he was unfortunately let down by the very people he reposed his unfailing trust.

Frankly stating, the late Mills would have been very successful in his short spell in government but for the shenanigans of the conspiratorial plotters that surrounded him.

I have always maintained that, although I am not, and will never be an NDC apologist, I will forever vouch for the late President Mills unparalleled adherence to moral principles.

Back then, the vineyard news spiralled through somewhat disturbingly that the late Mills, was, in fact, worried about the cloudy dealings of some of his appointees.

Take, for example, it has been well-stencilled that prior to the dubious Wayome’s judgement debt payment of GH51.2 million, the late Mills earnestly warned the ‘create, loot and share’ cabals not to effect payment. And yet the incompliant appointees defied his orders and effect payment anyhow.

Despite his unmatched moral upstandingness, the late President Mills somehow yielded to his appointee's impishness and allowed the create loot and share cabals to have their way.

And, in spite of his appointee's irreversible impunity and conspicuous dereliction of duty, the late Mills blatantly failed to crack the whip. He bizarrely held on to the weird appellation of ‘father for all’.

The truth, however, remains that the late Mills spared the rod and spoilt his government appointees.

Yes, his appointees were all over the place canvassing for people to come forward for the non-existent judgement debt. It was, indeed, an illustrative case of let us ‘create loot and share’. How bizarre?

The conspiratorial plotters allegedly managed to insert a purported amount of GH600 million into the national budget, with a flimsy excuse of reimbursing judgement debt claimants.

If you would recall, somewhere in 2010, some NDC loyalists and other policy makers decided to work as the agents of companies which were litigating against the Government of Ghana over non-existent judgement debts.

Back then, the NDC self-styled agents who were fronting for those companies would carry loads of documents and hop from one radio/TV station to another in a desperate attempt to persuade discerning Ghanaians into accepting their shrouded duplicities.

I recall vividly how one 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 GH1.5 billion judgement debt.

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

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

The 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 GH1.5 billion to the said automobile company.

The Member of Parliament, therefore, maintained that the management of the company were willing to negotiate the claim downwards with the Government of Ghana.

However, the whole thing turned out to be a scheming guile to fleece the nation. It was indeed a dubious attempt to steal from the national purse. How pathetic?

It came to light that somewhere 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.

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

So upon a stern inspection by the incoming NPP government, it emerged that the vehicles were not up to the required standards and specifications.
The then NPP government refused to take the delivery of the vehicles.

According to the Kufuor’s government, the supposedly new vehicles were never new after all. Suffice it to state that they were slightly used before shipping to our shores.

In addition to 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?

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 GH1.5billion initial judgement debt.

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.

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

In ending, it is our fervent hope and prayers that the Attorney General will earnestly pursue the conspiratorial plotters to the delight of all patriotic Ghanaians.

K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com