According to the Finder newspaper, apparently, a Ghanaian company, Santa Baron Limited, is demanding U.S.$279.4 million from the present government for a contract "...to purchase equipment and upgrade the security infrastructure for Ghana."
It is such a pity that the Finder newspaper omitted to tell its readers who actually owns Santa Baron Limited and who the company's directors are too. Be that as it may, it ought to be noted that the said contract was awarded by the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of President Mahama.
That leads this blog to believe that the same powerful individual in the Mahama-era who allegedly inflated the contract sum for the vice-president's official residence at Cantonments currently under construction is most probably also responsible for this outrageous rip-off deal too. Ebeeii.
The present government should not panic. This is a local company that probably secures government contracts by acting as an agent to obtain goods and sercvices from foreign suppliers. The fact that its principals are domiciled overseas will enable the present government to unravel this scandalous procurement monstrosity soon enough.
The unflappable minister for national security, Hon. Albert Kan Dapaah, must order his officials to quickly find out whether or not any of the equipment supplied by Santa Baron Limited was obtained from the UK.
If that indeed is the case, then the government must immediately hand the matter over to the UK's National Crime Agency's relevant units to find out whether or not permission was sought and obtained before the goods were exported to Ghana.
The culled content from www.gov.uk website below could be useful for our country's National Security Council:
"Welcome to the Checker Tools
Your request for the Checker Tools has been redirected. The Checker Tools have been redesigned and will now operate under the Export Control Organisation's SPIRE licensing system. The features available from the Checker Tools will remain the same but the presentation has been updated. The main differences are:
• Users can now access the Checker Tools without needing to log on using a password.
• If you are a registered SPIRE user, you can access the Checker Tools from within SPIRE once you have logged on.
The main operational differences are:
• When using the Goods Checker, you no longer need to add the dots to separate sub entries in a Control Entry. As an example, at present you would need to enter '3A001.a.7.a' to find this entry; on the new Goods Checker you can enter '3A001a7a'. The OGEL Checker has always used this system and so the two tools are now aligned.
• In the OGEL Checker, you can now have the possible OGELs displayed in alphabetical order or by 'Activity' which groups OGELs according to their type of use.
• The specific Helpline for the Checker Tools (help@ecochecker.co.uk) is no longer available. All queries relating to the Checker Tools should be sent to eco.spire@trade.gsi.gov.uk.
These tools are provided by the Export Control Organisation, the UK's regulatory authority for export licensing of military and dual-use goods. There are two tools available to help locate an OGEL for your needs:
Goods Checker
The goods checker helps to establish if your items are controlled and identify the appropriate control entry ('rating') from the UK Strategic Export Control Lists. If so, you will need to apply for an appropriate export licence. Use this tool in conjunction with the Control List Classification Search Tool available on SPIRE. and the OGEL checker.
OGEL Checker
The OGEL Checker helps to identify if an appropriate Open General Export Licence (OGEL) exists. If so, ensure you can meet all the terms and conditions, before registering via SPIRE. If either no OGELs exist or you cannot meet all conditions, you will need to apply for a Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) via SPIRE. Registered OGEL users are subject to ECO Compliance Audits. As an OGEL user you should opt to receive ECO's Notices to Exporters for future licensing updates.
For further practical guidance about export control visit: www.gov.uk."
End of culled content from the www.gov.uk website.
Clearly, if the prices of any such dual-use equipment supplied by Santa Baron Limited were inflated and that is indeed confirmed by UK investigators that could possibly be because of infractions of the UK's anti-bribery laws.
Then the government can then call the bluff of Santa Baron Limited - an obviously maleable business entity that must have been lent on heavily to inflate the contract sum by that selfsame greedy person who caused the contract sum for the vice-president's official residence now under construction to be inflated.
We need to change Ghana's government procurement laws to make profiteering when supplying goods and services to the government a serious crime punishable - if found guilty after prosecution - by a mandatory 20-year prison sentence without the possibility of parole. Enough is enough. Haaba.
Please find the culled Finder newspaper-sourced article posted on Ghanaweb.com mentioned earlier above below:
"Government is under pressure to pay $279.4 million for a contract signed by the previous government or face judgement debt.
Messrs Santa Baron, the company awarded the contract, which is demanding payment, says the previous government awarded a contract to purchase equipment and upgrade the security infrastructure for Ghana.
A report on the project from the Ghana Police Service dated March 2016 indicated that “the National Security Co-ordinator requested details from the Police Administration before sending same to the Interior Ministry for action”.
Yaw Donkor denied knowledge of the contract.
However, the immediate-past National Security Co-ordinator, Yaw Donkor, has told the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, which is investigating the genuineness or otherwise of the contract, that he had no knowledge or involvement in the said contract.
His denial has further heightened questions about the contract because it would have been expected that a contract that is meant to beef up the security infrastructure of Ghana would not be awarded without the knowledge of the then National Security Co-ordinator.
The Finder found out that the former Deputy Minister of the Interior, James Agalga, signed the contract dated August 2016 on behalf of the Government of Ghana.
When The Finder called him on phone, he admitted signing the contract on behalf of the government, saying government did not do anything untoward.
He explained that the intended infrastructure was meant to beef up counter-terrorism efforts of Ghana to protect Ghanaians since the threat of terrorism was real as witnessed in neighbouring countries.
According to him, the counter-terrorism unit under the national security apparatus needed the infrastructure to deal with issues of terrorism, which are still relevant today.
When asked whether it is normal that such a contract was signed without the knowledge of the National Security Co-ordinator, Agalga said since the issue was under investigations, he would not comment on that.
The Finder can report that the contractor, Messrs Santa Baron, is said to have told government that it has placed orders and the equipment are ready to be shipped to Ghana for the project.
Therefore, the company said if government fails to pay the money anytime soon, it would be forced to go to court to secure judgement debt to offset its expenses on the contract.
For now, the CID and government officials familiar with the matter are tight lipped on the details of the contract, such as the duration to deliver the project and terms of payment.
Also, the kind of equipment the contractor claimed to have purchased and ready to be imported into Ghana have not been disclosed,"
End of culled content sourced from the Finder newspaper and posted on today's Ghanaweb.com general news webpage
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