Our
further review of the documents since that Press Release reveal even
more disturbing facts that Ghanaians must know about, one of which is
this:
The Government has issued a directive to SSNIT to use our pension funds to acquire a 24% stake in this phantom Woyome project.
The
documents in our possession show that sometime in 2009, in a scheme
similar to the Stadium matters which led to the first scam, Woyome
managed to convince government officials that he could establish what he
called “Green Townships” in Ghana. This concept, at the time, was
allegedly to provide solar power and 20,000 houses for some Urban
Renewal Project, which was to be “replicated and adapted to agriculture,
mining or manufacturing communities.” It made fantastic and
unsubstantiated claims of providing 12,000 permanent jobs and 30,000
construction jobs for two years, and would “lift over 200,000 people
above the poverty line, including residents and workers on the project.”
Woyome
managed to get the Finance Minister at the time, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor,
to write a letter dated 15th December, 2009 to “in principle accept
participation stake holding of 24% in the joint venture.”
That
letter was however clear that the Government was going to subject the
proposal to further discussion with relevant stakeholders, leading to
formal negotiations towards a definitive agreement. The letter was also
clear that a final position on all aspects of the project would only be
arrived at after discussions with all stakeholders, subject also to
Cabinet and Parliamentary approvals.
It appears
to us that this matter cooled off for several years while Woyome
battled us in court over the GH¢51.2M that was unconstitutionally and
fraudulently paid to him. By the time Woyome re-surfaced in 2014, what
was a “Green Townships” project had transformed and ballooned into a
huge Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project designed to do practically
everything under the sun: electricity, deep sea ports, roads, railways,
hospitals, factories, agriculture, mining, archaeological findings. You
just name the project, and Woyome was going to do it.
On
19th August 2016, Woyome’s consultant, Albert Essamuah Associates
Limited, now claiming to have been appointed as the Government’s
consultants (and we are yet to see evidence of any such appointment),
wrote to the Chief of Staff demanding the latter “to issue an urgent
directive from your august office, to SSNIT through its Board Chairman,
to take up the 24% stakeholding of the Government of Ghana in the
Project SEZ on behalf of the people of Ghana.” This letter also revealed
that “when the construction of the Port commences the value will
escalate to over US$25 Billion.”
Although this
letter was disingenuously silent about the value of the alleged 24%
stake that SSNIT was to be directed to acquire, what is apparent is that
either SSNIT or the Government was expected by Woyome to fork out a
colossal 24% of US$25B for that acquisition.
That is a whopping $6 billion!
So,
what Dr. Duffuor had clearly stated as an “in principle acceptance”
with several approval conditions was, after the illegal Framework
Agreement was signed between Woyome and Dzifa Attivor, being represented
to the Chief of Staff as a firm commitment to acquire a 24% stake in
the phantom project.
We are satisfied to note
that the Chief of Staff asked for a legal opinion from the
Attorney-General, not on whether or not Ghana had committed to acquire
that 24% stake (which would be false), but on whether the government
could issue the directive to SSNIT as demanded by Woyome. An opinion
dated 30th September 2016 and signed by Dr. Dominic Ayine, Deputy
Attorney-General stated that the Chief of Staff “can issue directives
with respect to SSNIT to take up the 24% stake in the Project,” but
“subject to compliance with the investment guidelines established by the
National Pensions Act (2008).” We are satisfied that this opinion did
not bind SSNIT to taking up the alleged 24% stake. However, we are
concerned that in one part of the opinion, it is stated that “this is a
proposed stake as opposed to an actual stake,” while another part claims
that “Government has accepted the proposal [to take a 24% stake in the
project] per the letter from the Ministry of Finance dated December 15,
2009…”
As pointed out above Dr. Duffuor’s
letter of 15th December 2009 was heavily qualified, and none of the
conditions contained in it had occurred. There is no obligation on
Government to take that undefined 24% stake. Yet, this was now being
packaged almost as a done-deal, and being foisted on SSNIT.
This
is how Woyome works. That is how he ended up claiming and collecting
GH¢51.2M from Ghana for no work done. The 19th August 2016 letter from
his consultant betrays this, and we are horrified that our government
and its officials are tolerating this obvious scam for even a day.
We
must also point out that the Framework Agreement entered into between
the Government and Woyome’s Anator Holding Company Limited, is silent on
this alleged 24% stake in a joint venture. The question to be asked is
why the Framework Agreement fails to mention such a critical material
particular? These are the matters that have led us to conclude that the
Framework Agreement is illegal and a nullity, at the very least, on the
ground of material non-disclosure.
We call on
the government to declare publicly that it is not bound by this illegal
Framework Agreement. We call on the government to publicly renounce and
repudiate that document, as well as all other steps that have been taken
on the back of it. We call on SSNIT not to consider, even for a moment,
to use the pension funds of Ghanaians to fund this latest phantom
Woyome project.
In the coming days, we will
show to Ghanaians even more shocking aspects of this matter. If
Ghanaians do not arise to occupy their democratic space, public
officials, either through negligence or complicity, will engage in shady
and dodgy deals that would cost the nation money that we do not have
and should not be spending.
Yours, for God and Country,
OccupyGhana®
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