Agyapa deal susceptible to money laundering - Minority

 The Minority in Parliament has said the incorporation of Agyapa as an offshore company in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, a known tax haven, “is worrying”, adding: “Tax havens are generally known for their lack of transparency in matters of corporate governance such as disclosure of the beneficial ownership of the shares of companies”.

At a press conference on Tuesday, 1 August 2020, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said: “Tax havens are susceptible to money laundering and, thus, elevate the risk of Ghana being listed as a money-laundering jurisdiction by international bodies such as the European Union and the United Nations”.

Mr Iddrisu said: “Ghanaians will recall that in May 2020, the European Union placed Ghana on its Anti-Money Laundering List (AML) but deferred the implementation date to October 1, 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“By setting up a sovereign wealth fund in a tax haven, the Government of the NPP significantly elevates the risk of Ghana being considered as a money-laundering jurisdiction.

“This is because individuals and businesses use tax havens such as Jersey to hide their income and wealth so as to avoid payment of taxes and general regulatory scrutiny of their business deals.

“The European Union, the OECD and the United Nations use evidence of these offshore deals to rate countries on the effectiveness of their anti-money laundering regimes, including laws, regulations, policies, and other governmental actions”, he noted.

Read the Minority's full statement below:

NATIONAL SECRETARIAT

P.O BOX AN 5825 ACCRA-NORTH, GHANA

MINORITY PRESS STATEMENT ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AGYAPA ROYALTIES READ BY HON. HARUNA IDDRISSU, MINORITY LEADER OF PARLIAMENT

Colleague MP’s, Invited guests, Ladies and gentlemen of the media, Good Morning. Thank you for responding to our call, once again, at such a short notice.

INTRODUCTION

1. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, you will recall that on Friday, August 14, 2020, the last day of the second meeting of the fourth (4th) session of the 7th Parliament, President Akufo-Addo caused seven (7) agreements relating to the Minerals Income Investment Fund (“MIIF”) to be laid before Parliament for approval.

2. The Agreements seek to mortgage Ghana’s future mineral royalties and long term national assets in perpetuity without any regard to its implication on future national revenue streams. Through this transaction, the Akufo-Addo government intends to use a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Agyapa Royalties, incorporated as an offshore company in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, a known tax haven, in exchange for an upfront amount of USD500 million, under the Mineral Development Fund Act, 2018 (Act 978) and its amendment Act, which strangely, was yet to be assented to by the President in accordance with article 106 of the 1992 Constitution to make it law.

The Government of Ghana will own 51 per cent of the shares of the company and the remaining 49 per cent floated on the London Stock Exchange.

3. Let me state emphatically, that Members of Parliament had less than 4 hours to scrutinise these agreements, and ascertain the extent to which they would enhance the welfare of the people of Ghana and in particular its ramifications on national revenue into the future. Paradoxically, the Akufo-Addo government claims to have used two (2) years to prepare these agreements and yet, the people’s representatives in Parliament were required to peruse and approve same in less than four (4) hours.

4. The NDC Minority in Parliament, took a strong position in the national interest that the indecent haste with which these high-stakes agreements were being rushed through the parliamentary approval process does not augur well for the important exercise of Parliamentary oversight on an issue as critical as the mortgaging of the gold royalties of the country in perpetuity.

5. As representatives of the people of Ghana, it is our duty to ensure that such agreements meet key legal and constitutional requirements before approval. The Minority, therefore, requested for the full complement of requisite documents to guide and facilitate thorough scrutiny and due diligence of the proposed deal in accordance with article 185 of the 1992 constitution.

6. Key amongst these requisite documents were:

• the prospectus for the eventual sale of shares in Agyapa through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange. The prospectus would contain more important details of the deal such as projected cash flows, underlying assumptions and the dividend policy.

• incorporation details for the SPV, Agyapa Royalties

• detailed justification for the choice of Jersey, a known tax haven

• fiscal impact assessment

7. Ladies and gentlemen, to our utter dismay, the Minister of Finance refused to make these key documents available to us on the excuse that they were in draft form and for reasons of confidentiality, could not to be shared even with the elected representatives of the people of Ghana. This decision of the Finance Minister is in clear violation of Article 181(5) of the Constitution which requires that such documents together with the agreements be laid before Parliament for approval.

8. As a direct consequence of this concealment of vital information from the people of Ghana, the debate on the floor of Parliament was extremely acrimonious, and eventually, the Members of the Minority in Parliament were compelled to stage a walkout as a clear statement of our intent to protect the national interest at all cost.

9. Ladies and gentlemen, the Minority in Parliament would like to state unequivocally that a future NDC government will not honour the terms of this unconscionable agreement as described by the current Attorney-General. Pursuant to this, we wish to state as follows:

a) The NDC is of the strong view that the decision to mortgage Ghana’s future mineral royalties in perpetuity is grossly inimical to the interest of the people of Ghana and runs contrary to the constitutional imperative that governmental power be exercised for the welfare of the people of Ghana. This deal fails to enhance public welfare. Our analysis shows clearly that Ghana stands to lose billions of United States Dollars in revenue as a consequence of this illegal transaction.

This is because annual gold royalties from the mining sector amount to about USD200 Million on the average. It makes no economic sense, therefore, to mortgage these receivables to an opaque Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in exchange for an upfront amount of just USD500 million.

b) To ensure the deal meets best international practices, the Minority demanded that Parliament be furnished with periodic reports on the activities of the SPV in the spirit of accountability and transparency. These legitimate demands were vehemently opposed by the government and the majority side in parliament.

c) Minority’s specific concerns on the offshore entity (Agyapa Royalties)

i. The incorporation of Agyapa as an offshore company in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, a known tax haven, is worrying. Tax havens are generally known for their lack of transparency in matters of corporate governance such as disclosure of the beneficial ownership of the shares of companies.

ii. Tax havens are susceptible to money laundering and thus elevate the risk of Ghana being listed as a money-laundering jurisdiction by international bodies such as the European Union and the United Nations.

iii. Ghanaians will recall that in May 2020, the European Union placed Ghana on its Anti-Money Laundering List (AML) but deferred the implementation date to October 1, 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

By setting up a sovereign wealth fund in a tax haven, the Government of the NPP significantly elevates the risk of Ghana being considered as a money-laundering jurisdiction.

This is because individuals and businesses use tax havens such as Jersey to hide their income and wealth so as to avoid payment of taxes and general regulatory scrutiny of their business deals.

iv. The European Union, the OECD and the United Nations use evidence of these offshore deals to rate countries on the effectiveness of their anti-money laundering regimes, including laws, regulations, policies, and other governmental actions.

d) Minority’s concerns on an off-budget transaction. The deal is intended to monetise gold royalties to fund the Budget and ought to have been reflected in the Budget Statements tabled for approval and subsequently enacted in the various Appropriation Acts for the 2020 Fiscal Year. The deal did not reflect in the Budget Statement for the 2020 Fiscal Year.

e) In reviewing the 2020 Substantive and Supplementary Budgets, the Government did not disclose any of the following fiscal measures to Parliament.

i. That the MIIF will substantively replace the Mineral Development Fund (MDF) from 2020, as the Government noted;

ii. There was no policy on how current MDF beneficiaries, including traditional authorities, will continue to get their share of mineral royalties; and

iii. There were no explicit provisions in Financing (or borrowing) and Public Debt in the Budgets from 2020 onwards, besides the International Monetary Fund (IMF) COVID Loan.

iv. The Government showed the mineral (gold) monetisation “explicitly” in December 2019 as a potential source of financing the Budget in the IMF Article IV Report—but did not do so in the 2019 Budget approved by Parliament in the same December 2020.

v. In March 2020, in applying for the IMF COVID-19 Loan (approved in May 2020), GOG took the opposite step in excluding the minerals (gold) royalty monetisation from the financing sources.

vi. The Government also excluded mineral royalty monetization from its COVID-19 Statements to Parliament in March and May as well as Supplementary Budget in July 2020.

f) Minority’s Concerns on Family and Friends transaction. This transaction is yet another classical case of family-and-friends transaction. The good people of this country need to know the following. Ghanaians are demanding answers.

i. We need to know the procurement processes used in selecting Africa Legal Associates (ALA) as legal advisors. ALA is owned by Gabby Otchere Darko, the cousin of both President Akufo-Addo and Ken Ofori Atta, the Finance Minister.

ii. We also need to know the cost of the transaction and how much has been paid to the lawyers, and brokers including Gabby's company.

iii. We need to know whether the amount of money paid to Gabby's company was at arm’s length.

iv. Considering Gabby's relationship with the finance minister and the president we also need to satisfy ourselves that he did not use his influence with decision-makers to secure this lucrative deal.

v. Why the choice of Kofi Osafo Marfo, son of Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo? Was he subjected to a credible international competitive selection process?

vi. What considerations went into determining the remuneration for Mr Osafo-Maafo's son? Did his father (the senior minister) influence the selection process? Ghanaians deserve to know.

vii. Why is he, together with other board members guaranteed employment for the foreseeable future irrespective of their output?

g) Minority’s concerns on conflict of interest. Gabby Otchere-Darko's law firm advising on this shady Agyapa deal is similar to the objectionable practice of Databank serving as a book-runner on government bonds or co-manager of Eurobonds. All these transactions are motivated by fees which are certain and paid upfront.

These fees partly explain the rapid growth in public debt. A key driver of the ballooning public debt under the Akufo-Addo government is the fees earned by the Finance Minister’s company, Databank.

The selection of Databank Brokerage Limited as a book-runner means that Databank profits every time the Government issues bonds on the domestic market.

The actual commission is not based on the debt stock but on gross issuance (including refinancing) on the domestic market which in 2019 alone amounted to whopping GHS64.0 billion.

Since 2017, Databank has also been a Co-Manager of Ghana’s Eurobond transactions. During this period, Ghana has issued $5 billion in Eurobonds, with commissions and fees paid to Lead Managers and Co-Managers.

It is difficult to see how the Minister can be restrained from borrowing for Ghana if his firm benefits on a commission each time the government issues domestic bonds or Eurobonds.

Indeed, in 2018 when CHRAJ investigated conflict of interest allegations against the Minister of Finance in the matter of the issuance of $2.25 billion of bonds, the Commission observed that the respondent is either a director, the former director, the shareholder, or beneficial owner, of several companies whose objects relate to the securities market sector. The companies were Databank and EGL.

As such, Respondent’s interests in the growth and wellbeing of those companies, have the potential to conflict with the interests of the state in relation to the securities market such as the issuance of bonds.

h) Minority’s concerns on the secrecy of information on the company (Agyapa).

i. The Government has failed to give us information on the value of the company.

ii. We were not given information on how they arrived at the value of the company.

iii. We were also not given cash flow forecast for the duration of the project and its assumptions.

iv. Neither do we have the prospectus for us to know the cost of the transaction. We are reliably informed that they have spent $5 million even though the minister of finance claimed to have spent about $2 million as fees.

i) Minority’s concerns on Fiscal issues.

This current NPP administration has mortgaged all our major revenue streams, and this has serious fiscal implications.

i. They have mortgaged Getfund receivables.

ii. They have mortgaged Energy sector levies

iii. They have mortgaged bauxite with sinohydro.

iv. They have mortgaged the Road Fund, and as if this is not enough, they now want to mortgage mineral royalties.

According to the government, the total royalties from the concessions is about US$150m per annum (very conservative figure).

Agyapa is assigned 75.6% of this amount. That’s over US$113m per annum. The deal is structured such that it can run into perpetuity. Using the conventional discount rate (DR) of 5%, the Present Value (PV) of the cash flow is over US$2b. If a DR of 3% is used, the PV is over US$3.7b. Even if the transaction has the purported tenor of 15 years, the PV of the cash flow is nearly US$1.7b. So where is the government getting the US$1b valuation of Agyapa from? Is the difference the result of transactional and/or other hidden costs? If this transaction goes on in its current form, we are going to see an oversubscription at the IPO because it promises unreasonably high returns to investors.

CONCLUSION

• The use of a tax haven as location for an investment fund, while under AML scrutiny, is risky for Ghana.

• We will, after today’s press conference, put the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Conduct Authority on notice that this agreement does not meet the required due diligence and transparency, and a substantial level of conflict of interest runs through the structuring of the agreement. The Agreement, is, therefore, tainted with some corrupt acts.

• The Minority wishes to state emphatically that the SPV and its accompanying agreements as structured by the current Government is not just opaque but inimical to the interest of the Republic of Ghana. We, therefore, wish to completely disassociate ourselves with the proposed relationship agreement and subsequent flotation of shares on the London Stock Exchange and further serve notice that a future NDC government will have no choice but to review the Relationship Agreement and the other accompanying approvals.

Thank you.

Source: Class FM

Agyapa Royalties: 'State Capture' raises its ugly head once again! - Alex Mould

The Agyapa/Asaase agreement - selling Ghana’s Gold Royalties to investors through an SPV - has created a hullabaloo and rightfully so.

It succeeded in muddying the waters and raises a number of legal and valuation questions.

Firstly, it raises the important question as to whether Ghana Govt should be gambling by investing in a Fund, which will be managed by a Fund Manager with no reported fund management track record. A Fund with unknown objectives, and backed by a rather questionable amendment to the MIIF Act that only the Majority in Parliament approved (after a walkout by the minority), which restricts any government from changing the directors or fund manager irrespective of non-performance.

One should also question the timing of this amendment, which has subsequently allowed the SPV, originally set up as Asaase Royalties, only to be renamed in August when questions surfaced linking it to the owners of Asaase Radio - Gabby Okyere Darko and the Akuffo-Addo family - to be constructed as is.

Then there are the legal issues, on which the Attorney General, on 22nd July 2020, raised seven (7) significant conflicts between what the transaction advisor wanted done and the laws of Ghana. These issues, highlighted by the Attorney General, confirmed our worst fears and suspicions; that this agreement is both unconscionable and illegal.

Surprisingly, a new document surfaced only a few days ago dated 12th August, 2020, in which the very grave legal concerns initially raised by the AG, have been miraculously resolved with no change to any laws.

The real question is why the Minister of Finance chose an equity-sale route to raise money rather than the more conventional, tried and tested traditional and secure approach which investment bankers have used over the years to monetize future flow of assets - in this case being our Royalties- via a securitization route.

The conventional method, is to set up an SPV that will be assigned the flows from the Royalties (not sold); the SPV then issues notes to raise money for the owner of the SPV, ie GoG. Hence, in this case it is just the future flows of these Royalties that are being securitized. There is no sale of Ghana Royalties, and all the flows in excess of what is used to make debt service payments to Note-holders - interest and principal - return to the consolidated funds of the Government.

On the contrary, this controversial and unconventional route taken by government in the case of Agyapa is highly unusual. Here, GoG is selling the Royalties from 16 mining agreements, ad infinitum, to a SPV company, of which Ghana owns only 51%, and which in turn uses our Royalties to trade with no supervision or oversight.

What is the rationale of taking this unconventional route, whereby Ghana will receive no Royalties into our consolidated fund until the end date of these mining lease agreements – which is also unclear and is clouded in ambiguity?

There is absolutely no logical ground for choosing to raise money by floating shares in a brand new company with no track record. If Government needs to raise funds using our Royalties, a cheaper and more transparent way would be to issue notes in the capital markets backed by the future receivables of Royalties.

The management of the fund is yet another area where there is clearly a lack of good governance and proper clear-cut supervision. Investors are attracted to solid tried and tested fund managers based on their qualifications and experience. So, this needs to be seriously looked at as no one will invest in a brand new company unless it’s being managed by a reputable and well established Fund Manager with great credentials; well, no-one except maybe friends and family who know what they will be getting!

Another subject of concern is that of the price - the value Government (GoG) gets for selling 49% of its share of the future Royalties. How did they arrive at the price of the share of a Fund that will be receiving 75.6% of GoG Royalties from identified gold mining lease, whose specific objectives are to trade or invest in assets?

One would have expected our Investment Banker Minister to have provided a thorough Net Present Value (NPV) analysis, which would convincingly show that the rate of return from the upfront payment received for the sale of GOG’s 49% of the fund, as well as all projected future profits accrued to GoG from this company Asaase/Agyapa, will exceed the return we currently earn from receiving 100% of all our Royalties. This certainly would have helped to clarify many unanswered questions.

The current argument being raised to justify this sham of a transaction is that we the citizens do not have clarity or visibility on what our Royalties have been used for. Yet the murkiness of Agyapa is precisely why there is absolutely no transparency or accountability.

Clearly, another case of bad governance and, even worse, weak policies and law!

I believe that this fracas could have been avoided if GoG had, for example, modeled the management of mining sector revenue similar to that of the petroleum sector's PRMA- in a transparent and conventional manner - even though PRMA has it’s own challenges, which is another topic for discussion on another fine day.

Lastly, I am appalled by the lack of independence of our Legislative arm from the Executive, as evidenced by repeated blatant State Capture schemes from the President’s Office being rubber stamped by Parliament.

Fellow citizens, this deal raises more questions than answers, as there are many crucial issues that require immediate responses clarifying the grey areas.

Ghanaians deserve answers now.

Heated exchanges at PAC over GNPC allocations to Okyenhene, Rebecca Foundation, et al

 There has been some heated exchanges at the Public Accounts Committee(PAC) sittings on Tuesday, over the GNPC’s allocations to Okyehene, EOCO, Rebecca Foundation and others.

During today’s sitting, Ningo Prampram MP, Sam George asked why board of GNPC had to directly approve over 5 million cedis to be paid to the above mentioned individuals and entities without routing it through the GNPC foundation.

Board Secretary, Matilda Ohene who was present struggled to answer the questions raised  resulting in a follow up from Chairman for the Committee, James Klutse Avedzi.

This was however greeted with disdain from deputy ranking member for the committee, Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru.

The development brought proceedings to an abrupt end.

Dissipating Ghana’s Oil money

There was public backlash against GNPC over the payment of GH¢5.42 million as sponsorships and donations to Okyenhene Amoatia Ofori-Panin, First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo and others by the institution.

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, a consumer advocacy group in November, 2019 waded into the matter and called on President Nana Akufo-Addo, to, as a matter of urgency, initiate investigations into the processes leading to what it described as wanton dissipation of the taxpayers’ monies by the country’s national oil company, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

The call came in the wake of an internal memo which revealed how the corporation approved the said amount for sponsorship package for some institutions including the 20th anniversary celebration of the Okyenhene and Rebecca Akufo-Addo Foundation, a foundation owned by Ghana’s First Lady.

Leaked Memo

The General Manager-in-charge of Sustainability at GNPC, Dr. Kwame Baah Nuarko, who justified the approval of the sponsorship package at the time said, the GH¢120, 000.00 to First Lady’s Rebecca Foundation, the US1.8 million dollars for the celebration of Okyenhene’s 20th Anniversary, GH¢50, 000 to the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), US$30, 000 to Ghana Boxing Association, including a GH¢400,000 towards the preparations of the Damba Festival, were not new as they are in line with GNPC’s vision.

Source:Kasapa FM

Massive corruption outbreak in Akufo-Addo’s government.

The list of corrupt cases involving appointees of the Akufo-Addo government, is growing by the day, with the latest being the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Emmanuel Sin-Nyet Asigri, caught in the procurement malpractices web.
He has since being sent packing from the NYA by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, after a crunch meeting last week Friday in the Office of the President which he and his board chairperson, Francisca Oteng Mensah, who doubles as the New Patriotic Party (NPP)Member of Parliament for the Kwabre East Constituency in the Ashanti Region, attended.
Emmanuel Sin-Nyet Asigri, according to The Herald’s sources, had awarded a multimillion Ghana cedi contract to a company; Prefos Ghana Limited owned by his friend on “Single Source Procurement Method” and made part-payment without the board approval, having failed to submit budget details.
Interestingly, it has been established that an amount of GHC1. 810 million out of over GHC11, 750 million was paid to Prefos Limited by Sin-NyetAsigri on March 4, 2019.
The contract was to train some young people selected from some 254 district assemblies across the country to be able to install streetlights and also repair.
The board had approve the project, but had not approve the budget and payment for the transaction from its 5percent allocation it is currently receiving from the Common Fund for young development programme.

After dishing out the contract, The Herald is informed Sin-Nyet Asigri, had allegedly tried to use his contacts at the beleagued Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to give a retroactive approval to the contract after it was detected by the board and commenced an investigation into the transaction, but the PPA through a letter dated June 20, 2019, kicked him out and decided to probe the deal instead.
The suspended PPA boss, Adjeinim Boateng Adjei, had in a letter titled “Re: Request for ratification for use single source procurement method” addressed to Emmanuel Sin-NyetAsigri stated “Your letter No. NYA/PPA/VOL.3/76 of 27th May, 2019 requesting for ratification of your use of the Single Source Procurement Method to engage Prefos Ltd for the training of five hundred (500) young people in the areas of streetlight installation, maintenance and repairs refers.”
“At the Board Technical Committee Meeting No.27 (027/2019) held on Wednesday, 19th June 2019, the Board noted the content of your request and decided that, a team of investigators from the PPA should be assigned to your firm to investigate the circumstances that gave you cause to undertake the procurement activity without prior approval of the PPA to enable us to process your application”.
The board, as far back as March 28, 2019, discussed the contract after detecting some breaches and fraud in the transaction and raised alarm.
The board demanded some document from the management of the Authority led by Sin-NyetAsigri with Bright Acheampong, Deputy in-charge of Programmes and Operations with Rocky Obeng, Deputy in-Charge of Finance and Administration.

The Herald’s findings are that, two committees on the board; legal and finance were task to jointly investigate the issue and submit to the board. While the Legal Committee was led by one Lawyer Dennis Owusu-Appiah Ofosuapea, the Finance Committee was led by Mustapha Ussif, who is the National Service Scheme (NSS) boss.
On March 28, 2019, when it became clear that Sin-NyetAsigri, was not forthcoming with documents and on transaction, Mr Ofosuapea, at a Board meeting asked the CEO to inform the board about the kind of information and supporting documents he had, concerning the requests by the committee.
The board minutes available to The Herald also captures the NSS boss, as rehashing “the specific documents the Committee needed to finalize on the work”.
The documents, include the MOU on the streetlight training, Evidence of registration of the training center, Breakdown of the cost, the specific motorbike as has been projected by management and all documentations on the step (i.e training provider etc).
Mr Ofosuapea, is captured again to have asked for the source documents that informed the various project estimates.
This paper is informed that on the day Sin-Nyet Asigri, was billed to meet the committee with the documents, he rather dispatched one of his deputy to the meeting, but he could not produce the expected items.
A report detailing the alleged breaches and fraud, was eventually compiled and submitted to the board for action, but as the board was delaying in making a decision, petitions were sent to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the Chief of Staff, the Ministry of Youth and Sports among others.
Following this, a meeting was called by the Chief of Staff last Friday where Sin-Nyet Asigri was told to resign, but it is, however, unclear if the government is instituting a full scale investigations into the matter and for a criminal prosecution if some culpability is established.
The Herald is informed that Sin-Nyet Asigri’s conduct is what led to the resignation of Arnold Boateng, one of the board members recently citing “real issues” at the Authority.

The pro-NPP New Statesman newspaper with ties to the presidency last Saturday reported that the resignations of Arnold Boateng and Sin-NyetAsigri, follows a petition brought to the attention of Chief of Staff regarding a questionable procurement procedure which thePPA has been called in to investigate.

The Chief of Staff summoned the chairperson and the CEO of the NYA to her office last week but both were out of town. An official letter was sent to them to appear yesterday (Friday August 30), which both of them did.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chief of Staff Samuel Abu Jinapor.
The NYA chair, Francisca Oteng, confirmed one procurement in which the CEO had allegedly breached procedures, awarding the said contract without the knowledge of the board.
This matter was referred to the PPA last month to investigate. The PPA assigned a team of investigators to gather information on it.

The NYA board acted following receipt of a petition from one Ibrahim Ofori alleging corruption relating to procurement. The board met to confer on the matter on July 2 2019.
The NYA chair followed this up with a letter to the Minister of Youth and Sports on July 10.
In contention is the procurement method used to engage Prefos Ltd for training 500 young people o install, maintain and repair streetlights. The value of the procurement in question is GHS4.5 million.
The Daily Statesman also understands that the matter has been reported to National Security.
Security officials will look to the PPA investigation to determine whether the matter should be reported to the Ghana Police Service’s Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
From the board minutes it was clear that members were concerned about the issues as several paragraphs were dedicated to it with various members demanding documents upon documents on the transaction.

The Herald noted that Mr Boateng at March 28, 2019, board meeting, had also demanded for copies of the MOU between COTVET, NYA and NBSSI on the training programme.

He further asked for the list of various modules, how the prospective trainees will be selected, the certification process and the mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation.

Another board member Joshua Gmayenaam Makubu, also drew the board’s attention to the fact the first quarter of the year was almost exhausted. He therefore called for a fast tracked process for the committee to finish its work, for the necessary approval process to go through for management to carry out its expected action.

Corruption under Akufo-Addo worst in Ghana's history' - Nyaho-Tamakloe

Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe has described as worrying, President Akufo-Addo's posture towards allegations of corruption levelled against his appointees and officials in his government.
According to the founding member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), corruption in the current administration is the worst in the country’s history.

"The level of corruption under Akufo Addo's government is the worst ever in the history of Ghana and if he doesn't take care, there'll be a civil unrest under his leadership just like the revolution that happened in the North of Africa," the Statesman and politician told Atinka FM’s presenter, Saddick Adams.
Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe’s outburst comes on the back of the recent documentary by investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, which exposed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) for alleged conflict of interest and corruption.

 The investigations revealed that Talent Discovery Limited (TDL), a company incorporated in June 2017, and owned by Chief Executive of the Authority, Adjenim Boateng Adjei, has won a number of government contracts through restrictive tendering. Manasseh Azure Awuni has also confirmed that the company was engaged in selling contracts.
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has since suspended Mr Adjei and referred him to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Special Prosecutor for further probe.

But Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe says the President should severely punish his appointees rather than suspending them.

"Nana Addo should have sacked the CEO of PPA and not suspend him. He should have been sacked and an independent investigative body set to look into the matter. A lot of the scandals have been covered by government because the President knows clearly that if he tries to investigate them properly, the results could topple his government," he said.
He added that "In any civilised jurisdiction, Nana Akufo Addo would have resigned from the seat after all these series of scandals that has rocked his government some of which he is directly involved."

Corruption under Akufo-Addo no more a perception but a dreaded reality – Bernard Mornarh

Convener of the Coalition for National Sovereignty, Bernard Mornarh, has lambasted President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for not handling corruption cases of his appointees properly.

According to him, the President’s approach to dealing with corruption scandals exposed by well-meaning Ghanaians under his government has been a laughable disaster of a pattern.

In his view, instead of President Akufo-Addo, fighting and uprooting corruption, he has rather turned himself into a “Clearing-Agent-In-Chief instead of Commander-In-Chief” by ensuring that offenders pay the damning consequences after investigations find them guilty.

Bernard Mornarh questioning the integrity of the president noted that if indeed President Akufo-Addo was committed to fighting corruption, he should have been prosecuting at least 53 of his appointees by now.

He noted that, aside corruption, poor governance including security issues, bad economic situations have led to unrest and agitations by Ghanaians who he indicated have not been treated fairly by government.

In his words, “the corrupt level of the current government has passed the test of hypothesis and has assumed the level of theory and in full practice”.

Addressing the public on behalf of Mornarh at the Kejetia Market in Kumasi, PNC National Organiser, Desmond Ntow, vowed that the coalition is ready to take on the government through demonstrations in the various regions to ensure the Akufo-Addo government become “sensitive to the plight of Ghanaians”.

AG releases bus branding documents to Occupy Ghana

The branded buses

Pressure group, Occupy Ghana has said it has received the investigative report covering the controversial GHc3.5 million bus rebranding deal executed by Smartty’s Management and Production Limited.

The group, after several efforts to retrieve the report failed, dragged the Attorney General to court to have their demands met.

A statement from Occupy Ghana said the 22-page document was “sworn to by one Lawrence Kumi, Director of Research at the Ministry of Transport.”

Occupy Ghana further noted that the Attorney General had refused to release the report it furnished the office of the Chief of Staff saying “she considered that as confidential and privileged.”

“While we waited for our action to be heard, we received word from the Honourable Attorney-General that she would make the documents available to us. True to her word, by an Affidavit dated 26th April 2016, filed on 28th April 2016 and sworn to by one Lawrence Kumi, Director of Research at the Ministry of Transport, the Honourable Attorney-General has delivered to us, documents relating to the Transaction, except one,” the statement added.

The group also said they will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion if they find out the AG erred or did anything illegal after studying the documents.

“We have delivered these documents to our legal and audit teams for their review and advice. We will keep Ghanaians appraised and updated with the findings of our legal and audit teams, and as we have promised, should we find that any laws were broken or anything was done that was illegal, wrong or untoward, Occupy Ghana will pursue the matter to its logical and legal conclusions,” the statement added.

Prior to Occupy Ghana’s court action, another pressure group, Citizen Ghana Movement had sued the AG to demand full disclosure on the matter.

Following the suit, an Accra High Court on April 13, 2016 ordered government to make the documents available to the group.

Background

Government’s decision to spend GHc3.6 million of Ghana’s oil revenue on branding some 116 Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses has been widely criticized and described as reckless. The scandal compelled the Transport Minister, Dzifa Attivor to resign after a massive public outcry.

The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, subsequently ordered the Attorney General to investigate the matter after which Smarttys was ordered to refund the excess payments made.

Meanwhile a leaked Attorney General’s investigation report suggests that the contract with Smarttys was commenced and concluded long before the procurement process started; a conduct that violated the nation’s procurement laws.

Smarttys after the report was asked to refund GHc1.5 million to the state.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana