Monday 19 December 2011

MUST ALL THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WATERVILLE/VAMED JUDGEMENT DEBT BE PROSECUTED?

If actually true, the gripping story of the chronology of events, which eventually led up to the GHc 52 millions judgement debt, paid to Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, and the twenty five million Euros (€25m) awarded after arbitration, and paid to Waterville (BVI), as a result of the abrogation, by the Kufuor regime, on August 22, 2005, of a contract awarded to Waterville (BVI) and Vamed Engineering, both companies he was apparently associated with, is a truly fascinating one.

The said contract was apparently awarded to Waterville/Vamed Engineering on August 5, 2005, in accordance with the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), by the Central Tender Review Board.

If the Kufuor regime indeed acted in arbitrary fashion, in abrogating the said contract, then, alas, it would appear that the chickens have finally come home to roost, for those who became so power-drunk, during the New Patriotic Party's tenure in office.

The Alfred Woyome story, if true, illustrates perfectly, how some of the most powerful individuals in the Kufuor regime, forgot that they did not actually own the Ghanaian nation-state - and consequently made them fall into the trap, of thinking, that somehow they were invincible: and beyond the long arm of the law.

It was therefore easy for them to make the grave error of judgment, of ignoring the fact that all governments in power at any given point in time, in Ghana's history, are mere tenants of the Ghanaian people at the Osu Castle - with a full-repair lease, subject to renewal once every four years: with a maximum occupation period of eight years.

Why else, dear reader, would such highly intelligent individuals, some with legal backgrounds, apparently choose to ignore perfectly sound advice, from not only one, but from a number of sources, not to proceed along the dangerous path they had decided to trod on - including that allegedly of Mr. Yaw Osafo-Marfo, who warned his cabinet colleagues, of the dire legal consequences, of abrogating a contract duly awarded by the Central Tender Review Board: in a cabinet memo said to have been dated 27th July 2005?

The question is: Did they unilaterally decide to abrogate the Waterville/Vamed Engineering contract, and allegedly give the job to the Shanghai Construction Group, because they stood to personally benefit, either directly, or indirectly, through third parties, from so doing?

Furthermore, who was the well-connected and wealthy Ghanaian "connection man/woman" (or group of individuals) who allegedly brought the Shanghai Construction Group into the picture - who doubtless used clout available to them at the Osu Castle, to obtain the contract through back-door channels?

The financial package said to have been outlined in the Waterville/Vamed Engineering bid offer, was said to be far better value for Ghana, and was clearly superior to that which the Shangai Construction Group eventually leveraged, and was said to have apparently financed the construction of the stadia with.

If so, did Ghana end up having to pay substantially more than it needed to, simply because some powerful and influential individuals, would benefit from that relatively more expensive loan - which in the end the Chinese company is alleged to have utilised, to finance the construction of the stadia?

It is such a pity that those power-drunk individuals ignored those of us, who kept on reminding them, that since no condition is permanent, a time would come when they would finally be turfed out of power - when they would eventually end up having to pay for their crimes against the Ghanaian people.

If they are really guilty of wilfully causing such huge losses to the Ghanaian nation-state, then despite the propaganda of their handsomely-paid hirelings-without-conscience, in the Ghanaian media (who conveniently forget, that Mother Ghana was indeed a gang-rape victim - brutally assaulted many times over, by Kufuor & Co.), this is one case of abuse of office, which the perfidious Kufuor & Co., must not be allowed to wriggle out of, under any circumstances.

Above all, the honest and patriotic individuals in the Mills regime, must ensure that the deliberate and self-serving tactics of inertia and procrastination often employed to kill such cases, by the crooks in the administration of the honest President Mills, are not allowed to be deployed to prevent the prosecution of those in the Kufuor-era, responsible for such egregious examples of: impunity; arbitrary exercise of power; abuse of office and grand corruption, at the highest levels of government.

If the Woyome story is true, then on behalf of the hapless taxpayers of Ghana, the Mills administration must ensure that all those whose actions resulted in the alleged payment of a judgment debt of such magnitude - approximately fifty two million Ghana cedis (Ghc 52m) to Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome and over twenty five million Euros (€25m) paid to Waterville (BVI) after arbitration - are prosecuted. Simply put, they will be failing Mother Ghana, if their regime fails to do so. A word to the wise...

Tel (Powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana, that actually works!):+ 233 (0) 27 745 3109.

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