President's directive to EOCO worrying--Minority

Front page, 06/01/12

Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Minority in Parliament has prevailed upon President John Evans Atta Mills to relieve the Minister of Education, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, of her post and institute a truly independent enquiry into the circumstances leading to the payment of a whopping GH¢41,811,480.59 to a business man, Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome, for the settlement of a claim involving the rehabilitation of three stadia in the country.
According to the Minority, the huge and unjustified payment was based on the terms of settlement brokered by the then Attorney-General, Mrs Mould-Iddrisu, who did not file any defence to the claim against the government by Mr Woyome, who had neither put in a bid nor entered into any contract with the government.
In a statement read by the Minority Leader, Mr Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Minority accused Mrs Mould-Iddrisu of negligence and admission of mistake, thereby enabling Mr Woyome to obtain a judgement of GH¢105,540,548.24 and costs of GH¢25,000 against the state on May 24, 2010.
“We demand investigations into this manifestly fraudulent conduct in this stadia saga and possible prosecution for defrauding the Republic of Ghana through misinterpretation and dubious claims in obtaining in default of defence,” it said.
The Minority also described as “unfortunate” a statement by President Mills on his return from his recent trip abroad when he demanded a report, explaining that the said report he was demanding “is clearly a smokescreen seeking to buy time and once again protect one of his own”.
It added that given the sequence of events, the President “is aware and part of the grand scheme of corruption by either omission or commission”.
The Minority, therefore, demanded that “instead of the self-serving report the President has asked for, an independent public enquiry aired on all national TV networks and radio stations for all and sundry to actively participate in must be instituted”.
Giving the background of the saga, the statement said when Ghana was awarded the right to host the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, the then NPP government decided to build two new stadia at Essipong and Tamale and refurbish the Ohene Djan (Accra) and the El-Wak stadia towards the hosting of the tournament.
It said on July 20, 2005, the committee set up to evaluate and make recommendations on financial proposals met one of the shortlisted companies for the project, VAMED Engineering Company, to ascertain the credibility, viability, timeliness and the current status of financial proposals from the firm.
VAMED, an Austrian firm in Ghana, had proposed to raise funding of about 764,117,646 euros from the Bank of Austria for the project and Mr Woyome, then the Deputy Honorary Consul for Austria in Ghana, was part of the negotiating team of VAMED.
The firm’s condition for raising funds for the project included the requirement to subject the project to MIGA guarantee and charges, the approval of credit terms by IMP, the setting up of a special purpose company by VAMED and the government, the issuing of an irrevocable sovereign guarantee by the government to the Bank of Austria and the attachment of a health and wellness centre to the stadia to be built.
The statement explained further that the committee advised the government that the conditions and processes to be met by both the government and VAMED could span three to four months, which was a potential source of delay for the project.
Given the urgency of the project, the committee further recommended to the government to seek an alternative option of securing its own line of funding.
It said it was at that stage that the then Ministry of Education and Sports informed VAMED on August, 22, 2005 that it was discontinuing with the tendering process due to time constraints and high financial commitments implied in the submissions.
It added that on August 27, 2005, Waterville Holdings Limited, said to be part of the VAMED consortium, which also included Micheletti and Co Limited, responded to the letter by the Ministry of Education and Sports and requested for negotiations to resolve what it regarded as “breach of process”.
Eventually, the statement added, Waterville Holdings could not raise the funds and collaborated with Micheletti and Co to build the Ohene Djan and the El-Wak stadia, and with CONSAR to build the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.
It said letters from the then Attorney-General, Mr Joe Ghartey, dated August 1, 2006, and those from the Office of the President, dated October 24, 2008, confirmed that the government had no claims to settle with any party or individual after Micheletti and CONSAR had agreed to pay amounts outstanding to Waterville Holdings.
The statement, therefore, questioned what it called “the bizarre and highly controversial” manner in which Mrs Mould-Iddrisu dealt with Mr Woyome, who was neither known as a shareholder nor director of VAMED, since the then government did not deal with him in his personal capacity.