The National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has failed to produce a valid contract covering the controversial Hyundai Galloper deal as earlier promised by officials of both its current and past administrations.
Instead, what was produced and regarded as a contract is a pro forma invoice number M.H.A.A 002536 PQ from African Automobile Limited (AAL) and a subsequent acceptance letter from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development dated January 10, 2000.
The acceptance letter was signed for Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister at the time, by his Chief Director, S.Y.N Zanu.
On Saturday, July 7, 2012, when he appeared on the Newsfile programme on Accra-based Joy FM, Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa tried to dispel criticisms about the absence of a binding contract for the botched Hyundai Galloper deal that AAL is using to allegedly claim $1.5billion from the government of Ghana.
Convinced that the documents he was revealing was going to put to rest arguments about the legitimacy of the Galloper deal, on the Newsfile programme, the deputy minister stated, �I�m going beyond admission, I have brought to you here today, the contract for the first time�.
Thereafter, the deputy minister produced a pro forma invoice and an acceptance letter as proof of a contract.
However, these documents have been promptly rubbished by critics, including editor of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr., who described them as an �embarrassment of a contract�.
Indeed, earlier last week, in the thick of the controversy, Mr Ahwoi had promised that he was going to make the contract documentation public during a scheduled press conference. However, he could not follow through on this pledge, and instead, released a press statement which only made reference to the same documents produced by Ablakwa.
Apparently, the Galloper transaction was based on what has been described as a verbal understanding between AAL and the Mr Ahwoi when he was the Minister of Local Government before he was yanked off that portfolio to Ministry of Regional Integration in the dying days of the Jerry Rawlings regime.
The discussion came to a peak in 1999 when both parties agreed to swap some used Mitsubishi Pajeros of the Ministry for new Galloper II four-wheel-drives.
According to officials of the Kufour-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) who took over from the Rawlings government in 2001, the transaction was mostly based on verbal understanding which did not compel the new government to be a party.
Loss of Mitsubishi Franchise
The AAL, in a writ of summons dated October 2005, cited damages worth approximately $125million for what it regarded as breaches of the contract for the supply of the Galloper vehicles. The Mills government estimated that the damages have climbed to $1.5billion within the last seven years, and that for the loss of Mitsubishi franchise by AAL alone, the company is claiming $1billion.
Strangely, the vehicles supplied are not Mitsubishi brands which are made in Japan, but Hyundai Galloper made in Korea.
AAL�s sister company, the Auto Plaza, is still the main dealers for Hyundai cars in Ghana, with the recent Hyundai I10, popularly called Atta Cambu and Hyundai Verna, being given out to NDC foot-soldiers and propagandists including their media friends.
The Atico Junction office of the auto dealers is awash with various brands of Hyundai cars.
It is believed that the Attorney General at the time filed a defence that same year to contest the claims being made by AAL and even demanded the return of the initial deposits made to the company.
In the acceptance letter signed by Mr. Zanu for Mr Ahwoi in 2000, the letter was titled; �Trade-in of Used Short-Wheeled Base Pajero 4�4 Station Wagon For 4X4 Hyundai Galloper II Station Wagon� and it read: �I refer to our proposal made to you in January 1999 and subsequent negotiation in our meeting in December 1999. Mr M. Hijazi, representing African Automobile and Hon. Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister and Mr. S.Y.N Zanu, Chief Director representing the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development�.
It continued: �I hereby confirm that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development accept the State Transport Company�s valuation of the used 1999 4�4 Short-Wheeled base Pajeros at $4,000 each and your offer Pro-forma invoice number M.H.A.A 002536 PQ dates 5th January 2000�.� The letter went on to cite various components of the transaction.
We Are Not Fools
But Kweku Baako Jnr. argued that the letter did not follow the standards of the State Property and Contract Acts and therefore does not constitute a legally binding contract.
He questioned how Ghana would settle for �this mediocre arrangement� in a form of a contract.
�Come on, we are not fools. This is a nation of intelligent people. We have a proud history and even if we sit with people to negotiate they ought to credit us with some level of intelligence,� Mr. Baako complained in frustration.
He said but for $127million they were claiming in 2005, �No court documentations captured any of those things [franchise, storage demurrage, bank loans]. ��Franchise? Ridiculous!� he swore, questioning, �They lost their franchise because of this litigation? Or because Ghana government abrogated a contract? And that they are billing us a billion?
Martin Amidu Denial
Former Attorney General Martin Amidu issued a disclaimer to a purported withdrawal from the courts the controversial judgment debt scandal on the Galloper vehicles.
African Automobile Limited is demanding some $1.5 billion in damages from the government of Ghana for breach of contract in the supply of some 87 cross country Galloper vehicles it imported to Ghana in 2001.
The company proceeded with a suit in court demanding payments for the liabilities.
But the court granted leave in 2011 for the parties to attempt an out-of-court settlement at the time Martin Amidu was the Attorney General.
The former Attorney General stated emphatically that it could not have been possible that he supervised the withdrawal of the case from the court in 2011.
He said he as Attorney General was never privy to the case involving AAL and could not have advised for an out-of-court settlement.
He wondered who could have expressed that power of the principal state attorney to opt for an out of court settlement without his knowledge.
Two weeks ago, the country went agog when Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa announced in the Daily Graphic that government risked paying a sum of US$1.5billion for breach of contract on the delivery of about 110 Galloper II wagons.
But critics and members of the opposition NPP have questioned the basis of the claims, accusing the Mills government of deploying the Woyome-like strategy to fleece the national coffers in the name of phantom judgment debts.
�There seem to be an increasing pattern on the part of the NDC government to be too happy to settle. A lot of the cases that are coming up show that pattern. Woyome is a classic example, Waterville etc. It is a worrying trend,� noted Nana Akomea, the Director of Communications for the NPP, who was also on the Saturday Newsfile programme.
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