[ 2016-12-06 ]

Woyome New Deal Stinks
Details are emerging about how a secret deal
between Mahama’s National Democratic Congress
(NDC) government and Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the
party’s reported bank roller, to enable him to
execute a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project has
been prepared.

The presidency is said to be neck-deep in the
murky transaction – which pressure group
OccupyGhana has described as another avenue to
loot state funds – involving Mr. Woyome’s
Anator Holding Company Limited.

The government, through Chief of Staff Julius
Debrah, is allegedly putting pressure on the
Social Security and National Insurance Trust
(SSNIT) to fund the controversial public-private
partnership arrangement; and it looks like the
involvement of the SSNIT is what Anator Holding
Limited is waiting for before going to the
financial market to raise funds.

Woyome is asking for $8 million (GH¢35 million)
from SSNIT, even though he owes the state GH¢51.2
million as money he fraudulently received as
judgement debt.

A letter directing SSNIT to ‘strictly’ comply
and take 24% shares in the bizarre SEZ project was
signed by Ambassador William Ntow Boahene, a
presidential staffer, on behalf of the Chief of
Staff on October 4, 2016, and had said it was
being done following the Attorney General’s
advice.

The AG in its advice to the government prepared
and signed by Deputy AG, Dominic A. Ayine on
September 30, 2016, cautioned, “The Chief of
Staff can issue directives with respect to SSNIT
to take up the 24% stake in the project subject to
compliance with the investment guidelines
established by the National Pensions Act 2008.”

The AG had explained that “the issuance of
governmental directives to a public body such as
SSNIT does not necessarily violate the law.”

The letter indicated, “Where the Board of
Trustees of SSNIT agrees with the directive to
take up the stake, it would be advisable to
conduct legal and financial due diligence on the
proponent company in order to ensure that the
public interest in the investment by SSNIT is
protected.”

The letter accepting the presidency’s directive
to SSNIT to be part of the project was written on
August 19, 2016 by Albert W.S. Essamuah, Managing
Director of Albert Essamuah Associates Limited,
who are the Supervising Consultants of the
project; and said they were appointed by the
government through the Ministry of Transport under
former minister, Dzifa Attivor and Anator Holding,
proponents, to establish the Master Plan
Implementation Office which comprises the legal
technical and financial structure to organize,
follow, and monitor the realization of the
preliminary and implementation phases of the SEZ
project.

The consultant then asked the Chief of Staff to
issue an urgent directive to SSNIT through its
Board Chairman, Joshua Alabi, to take up the 24%
stake in the project on behalf of the people of
Ghana because the trust had shown interest.

“By transferring the 24% stake holding of the
government to SSNIT, the project transaction
advisor, Ernst & Young, can progress with their
work on raising capital for the project,”
according to the letter.

$256m Stake

According to the consultant, the SEZ project has
landed property totaling over 35,000 acres in
Tokpo, Kablevu (963.42 acres), Todze (1,743.39
acres), Sogakope (2.7 acres) and in the
Sekondi-Takoradi petrochemical enclave (2,470
acres yet to be reclaimed); all together with a
market capital value in their current user states
over $256 million, adding, “It is expected that
when the construction of the port commences, the
value will escalate to over $25 billion.”

The consultant said that the Ministry of Transport
and Anator Holding have jointly established an
Escrow account from which verified payments will
be made towards the project.

The consultant, in another letter dated July 14,
2016, written to the Lands Commission, assured it
(commission) that Anator Holding has made
arrangements for payment of compensation for land
owners to be captured under the project.

They said Anator Holding would assign custody of
the lands to UT Bank after the transfers had been
done in the name of the Ministry of Transport.

The letter stated that Atuguba & Associates are
the project’s local lawyers and that they would
ensure that payments are made on the back of
signed contracts to prevent future denials of
compensation payments.

Source - Daily Guide

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