On the 15th of November 2010, I paid for The National Review newspaper, which I intend to publish in the first half of this year, to be registered with the National Media Commission (NMC). As part of the paper’s mission of ensuring that readers always get first-hand knowledge, of the nation-building efforts of those entrusted with the task of leading Ghana into prosperity, we will be interviewing leading players in different spheres of our national life, including government ministers and district chief executives, on a regular basis. The Hon. Alban Bagbin was the first to agree to grant us an interview. To usher in President Mills’ “year of action”. I am posting my interview with him here. It serves as an example of what readers of the paper can expect in The National Review's columns.
Incidentally, I met the Hon. Bagbin, at 6.30 am on a working day. There was already a queue of people waiting to see him even at that hour of the morning. Apparently the flow of visitors never ceases. If President Mills wants his “year of action” to be a successful one, his National Democratic Congress (NDC) must strengthen its capacity to help the party’s supporters who troop to the ministries to seek help from his ministers. The question is: should it not be the case that when a serving minister’s constituent needs, say a passport, or requires help of some sort, in interfacing with officialdom (which necessitates that individual coming to Accra if they live in any of the other regions of Ghana), that person can simply speak to those in charge of the minister’s constituency office, in the region they hail from: who in turn would then arrange with the party’s national headquarters staff, to render the assistance that enables the said constituent, to get the help he or she requires in Accra?
Instead of the endless bickering, let the NDC’s big-wigs devote their considerable energies to strengthening their party to such a degree that it can carry some of the unnecessary load now being shouldered by government ministers and the NDC’s members of Parliament. It is simply not possible to get Ghana’s elected leaders to do the work they are supposed to do, if Ghanaians continue to flock to their offices in such large numbers, on a daily basis, in order to seek direct assistance from them. Surely, the NDC ought to be able to render such assistance to their own members? The same thing applies to all the other political parties in Ghana during their tenure as governing parties. But I digress. My interview, towards the end of last year, with the Hon. Alban Bagbin, on aspects of the STX deal follows below. Do please read on, dear reader!
KT: Minister, many of those who root for you in your party, say that your leadership has made a huge difference, to the final outcome of the STX security services housing project. In what way would you say your coming to the ministry has made a difference to the project?
Hon. Bagbin: Well, naturally, to begin with, I must give credit to all those who worked on it, before my appointment to the ministry, as minister. To answer your question directly, my arrival at the ministry was in a sense timely. It was around the time that H.E. President Mills had directed Vice President John Mahama to proceed to South Korea to seal the agreement. I joined that delegation (which incidentally included the Minority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and Hon. Dr Akoto Osei, who was once a minister at the ministry of finance, as you know).
On arrival at the hotel we were to lodge in, the Koreans attempted to rush us to a press conference that they had organized – for us to sign an MOU on the STX housing project in Ghana. I advised against our delegation attending such a press conference without first getting the opportunity to go through the MOU to approve its contents. H.E. Vice President Mahama accepted that advice and turned the invitation to the press conference down. I then requested to be given a copy of the MOU to go through it. The Koreans obliged and together with Hon. Seth Tekpeh we made substantial amendments to the document.
The Koreans wanted the vice president to be a signatory, but I advised against it: for the simple reason that this was not in the nature of a treaty or convention for it to be signed by the presidency. An MOU is not an agreement but a recording of the initial general understanding of the parties at a stage of negotiations on a subject matter. I was then mandated to sign it on behalf of Ghana.
KT: What exactly necessitated the audit that was conducted by the South Koreans –- and at whose behest was it done: the government of Ghana or that of South Korea?
Hon. Bagbin: Well, on my second trip to South Korea to attend a conference on Africa (following the one during which I signed the MOU), I decided to kill two birds with one stone, by meeting the STX Group to clarify some issues on the project. For that reason, I had arranged for a team from the ministry of justice and that of finance to accompany us, to give us technical support. I insisted at that meeting that there must be a value-for-money audit by an accredited agent of Ghana and a performance-audit by the Auditor-General of Ghana. The Koreans finally accepted that suggestion – and the EPC document we signed recently captures the two issues.
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KT: Is it true that your ministry will be in overall charge of the implementation of the security services housing component of the STX project - and "drive it" as well?
Hon. Bagbin: The 30,000 housing units for the security service personnel will be under the purview of my ministry. I've insisted that being the beneficiary Ghana ought to be in the driving seat. The Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing will perform that duty on behalf of Ghana. That is why I got them to agree that Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AESL), a government–owned organization, should be the project’s consultants. AESL, as you know, is under my ministry.
KT: Sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations in South Korea, say that you insisted on STX signing a performance-bond, and that they were surprised by that demand. Is it true that to make your point, you asked them if they did not intend to ask their Ghanaian sub-contractors to sign same, and went on to ask them the reason why?
Hon. Bagbin: That is very true. I actually had to even debate an expert they brought in from Singapore on that matter. I made references to the writings of Mr. Lee Kwan Yu, his former prime minister and the founding father of his country, to buttress my point!
KT: Does your ministry have any plans to get the South Korean government (and other governments such as that of China), to support private or (state-owned) South Korean construction firms, to construct infrastructure, own and operate them to derive revenues from them for a period, and then transfer them to the ownership of the government of Ghana?
Hon. Bagbin: We are already rolling out similar projects. So any such companies are very welcome to invest here with the support of their governments.
KT: Minister, it appears that the time you allotted for this interview is over! Thank you very much for sparing the time from your rather busy schedule for this morning’s interview. We do hope that your doors will continue to remain open to The National Review (and other Ghanaian media houses) in future.
Hon. Alban Bagbin: Many thanks too, Kofi. I do wish your new paper The National Review well. As you know, my doors have always been open to the Ghanaian media – and they will continue to be open in future as well. Do have a good day.
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