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In fact, but for the vigilance of the NDC minority in Parliament, President Akufo-Addo, would have succeeded in fleecing the Ghanaian tax payer a whopping $880 million dollars all in the name of renegotiating the Ameri Power agreement.
It would be recalled that President Akufo-Addo who granted Executive approval for this highly- inflated deal later turned around and blamed the then Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko for misleading him.
The Minister was subsequently forced to resign, with a promise to investigate and get to the bottom of that scam.
As we speak, absolutely nothing has been heard of this scandal, as it has been conveniently swept under the carpet by the Chief Corruption Clearing Agent, President Akufo-Addo.
AUSTRALIAN VISA FRAUD SCANDAL Ladies and Gentlemen, one scandal that brought international shame and embarrassment to Ghana and Ghanaians living everywhere was the Australian Visa Fraud Scandal.
The Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Pius Enam Hadzide was indicted by his boss for being the one who supervised the acquisition of travelling visas for some Ghanaians who masqueraded as sports journalists in faraway Australia.
However, when these Ghanaians were confronted by the Australia authorities, it became apparent that Pius Enam Hadzide and other NPP officials had extorted various monies from these so-called sports journalists to help them travel to Australia for greener pastures.
Very typical of President Akufo-Addo, he quickly cleared Pius Hadzide of any wrong-doing and rewarded him with another position, Deputy Minister of Information.
OVER-BLOATED GOVERNMENT FOREIGN TRAVELS Another instance of obscene and profligate dissipation of state resources was when President Akufo-Addo in only nine (9) months in the year 2019, spent 650 billion old Cedis on refreshment and foreign travels in just nine (9) months in the course of 2019.
It would be recalled how President Akufo-Addo went globe-trotting on a rented private jet at a cost of $17,000 per hour, including going to watch the 2019 Champions League final match between Tottenham Hotspurs and Liverpool Football Club in faraway Spain.
This ostentatious and wasteful lifestyle of the President was financed by the scare resources of state which could have been channeled into meeting the many needs of the Ghanaian people.
THE PPA “CONTRACTS FOR SALE” (DONKOMI) SCANDAL Friends from the media, one of the most grievous and distasteful corruption scandals we have witnessed under the watch of President Akufo-Addo is the PPA Contracts for sale (Donkomi) scandal, involving the then CEO, Mr.
A.B Adjei.
You would recall how an investigative piece by Manesseh Azuri Awuni, revealed the extent to which this Mr.
A.B Adjei used his private company, Talent Discovery Limited to procure over ten (10) government contracts through restrictive tendering and in some cases, sole sourcing and illegally sold these contracts to other entities to enrich himself.
Aside the fact that, the Akufo-Addo government continued to pay Mr.
AB his full salaries even when he was on suspension, President Akufo Addo has refused to retrieve from Mr.
A.B Adjei the billions of Ghana Cedis that the latter has stolen, and to prosecute him for the serious crimes he has committed against the state.
According to the OSP’s investigative report on this matter, Mr.
A.B Adjei through his corrupt activities amassed so much wealth such that his total bank account balance which stood at about GHc45,000 as at January 2017 when the NPP took office, rose astronomically to about GHc45 million in only 3 years.
Yet this man, a very corrupt personality who should be standing prosecution for his crimes against the state by now, has been left off the hook by the Chief Corruption Clearing Agent, President Akufo Addo.
Having been indicted by both CHRAJ and the Special Prosecutor, what more evidence does President Akufo-Addo need to prosecute this man for his crimes?
THE “AGYAPA SCANDAL” Distinguished friends, the last but not least of monumental scandals of the Akufo-Addo government is the still raging “Agyapa” Gold Royalties Transaction.
As we are aware, President Akufo-Addo, once again ably supported by his cousin the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta and other close associates in government, constituted a fraudulent vehicle called “Agyapa” to enable them mortgage Ghana’s gold royalties for the next 15 years in exchange for a paltry $500 million.
The Special Prosecutor through his painstaking corruption and anti-corruption risk Assessment into the deal has confirmed what we in the NDC have known and maintained all along, that the Agyapa deal is fraught with illegalities, corruption, bid rigging, greed, cronyism and potential money laundering.
We are all equally aware of how President Akufo-Addo and his cousin the finance minister, Ken Ofori Atta attempted to influence the work of the Special Prosecutor, leading to his resignation and subsequent threats on his life.
However, as we speak, President Akufo-Addo is yet to retrieve for the state, the over $4 million, equivalent to GH¢240 billion old Ghana Cedis he illegally paid to Databank, which is owned by his cousin and finance minister, Ken Ofori Atta and Africa Legal Associates, a law firm belonging to another cousin of President Akufo-Addo, Gabby Otchere-Darko, under the dubious deal.
Distinguished friends from the media, this is the record of President Akufo-Addo when it comes to the fight against corruption.
As we have amply demonstrated, not a single occasion has President Akufo-Addo shown political will to fight corruption in the last four years.
In fact, he has turned himself into the chief Corruption Clearing Agent, ready to clear and whitewash the sins of his appointees even before they are investigated.
Right from the outset, President Akufo-Addo’s stonewalling and defensive posturing when it comes to corrupt activities of his appointees has emboldened them to plunder state resources with reckless abandon.
The fact of the matter is that President Akufo-Addo is the chief beneficiary and patron of the unprecedented levels of corruption we are witnessing today.
As we often say, he is the biggest promoter and enabler of corruption in his government.
He is himself corrupt, as evident by the highly-inflated Ameri-Novation deal he personally approved.
His quest to build his family’s legacy and financial war chest supersedes his desire to develop Ghana.
That is why we call him a family builder and not a nation-builder.
Rather than being a fighter of corruption, President Akufo Addo has become a fighter of corruption fighters.
Today, every critical voice of dissent that dares to talk about the unprecedented corruption under this government has been suppressed.
The removal of the Auditor-General, Mr.
Daniel Yao Domelovo for his relentless fight against corruption, the harassment of investigative journalists such as Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Manasseh Azure Awuni, Edward Adeti and other anti-corruption campaigners, and the sad and gruesome murder of Ahmed Suale of Tigre Eye PI fame, cast the most undesirable record of any democratically-elected President who is so determined to dim the torch of accountability.
Never in the history of this country have we witnessed this level of terror and cruelty being unleashed on anti-corruption crusaders who deserve to be honored and celebrated for their good works.
Ladies and gentlemen, we shall now proceed to prove to you why we have always maintained that His Excellency John Dramani Mahama towers heads and shoulders above Akufo-Addo as far as fighting corruption is concerned.
Ghanaians still recall that in the wake of investigations by Manasseh Azure Awuni, which unearthed corruption in the operations of the Ghana Youth Entrepreneurial Development Authority (GYEEDA), President Mahama directed the then Attorney-General to prosecute the culprits.
In line with this directive, the state successfully prosecuted and sentenced two persons, Hon.
Abuga Pele who was the National Coordinator of GYEEDA and an NDC Member of Parliament, and Mr.
Philip Akpeena Assibit, a businessman to a total of 18 years in prison for causing financial loss to the state.
It is very important to remind Ghanaians, that these two personalities were jailed for misappropriating GH¢4.1 million.
This amount pales into insignificance when compared to the malfeasance we are witnessing today by appointees of President Akufo-Addo.
Yet in the face of overwhelming evidence, not a single appointee of the Akufo-Addo government has been prosecuted, let alone sentenced.
This is the clear difference between President John Dramani Mahama and Akufo-Addo.
While one has shown beyond lip service and allowed investigations into alleged corrupt acts to the point of jailing his own appointee, President Akufo-Addo is yet to prosecute a fly in his corrupt government for corruption.
Friends from the media, the National Service Scheme investigation was another occasion when President Mahama demonstrated his unwavering commitment to stamping out corruption from his government.
In 2015, eight people, including the then NSS boss, Alhassan Imoro were prosecuted by the state and made to refund monies they allegedly misappropriated from the scheme.
We also remind Ghanaians of the Smarttys Bus Branding scandal during the erstwhile Mahama/NDC regime, and how President Mahama pursued this matter to its logical conclusion.
Smarttys Management and Production Limited was made to pay in full every penny in respect of moneys overpaid for the branding and respraying of 116 intra-city buses.
Such was President Mahama’s abhorrence for corruption, that when a Deputy Minister of Communications, Victoria Hammah was caught on tape allegedly saying she will quit politics when she makes $1million, she was immediately dismissed by President Mahama.
Same level of intolerance to corrupt behaviour cannot be said of President Akufo-Addo who has become so numb to corruption.
VOTE BUYING BY THE AKUFO-ADDO GOVERNMENT Distinguished friends, one worrying trend that further accentuates the corrupt behaviour of President Akufo-Addo is his recent vote-buying activities in his bid to hold on to power in the face of his abysmal performance in government.
Having realized that defeat is staring him in the face, President Akufo-Addo has resorted to trying to buy the votes of the Ghanaian people through various tricks that seek to insult the intelligence of the discerning electorate.
One of such vote-buying moves is the payment of double salaries to Security Personnel in the month of November.
We are reliably informed that our men in uniform, have been paid double salaries and other incentives in the month of November in what is a desperate, belated attempt by President Akufo-Addo to buy votes.
We trust our men and women in uniform not to fall for this vote-buying gimmick of President Akufo-Addo, which is an insult to their intelligence.
We wish to remind all the men and women in our security agencies that President Akufo-Addo has no good plans for them, except his desire to get their votes just to stay in power for another four years.
To members of the Ghana Police Service in particular, we urge you not to forget that this same President Akufo-Addo has already began processes to cancel your CAP 30 pensions scheme, thereby making you poorer in retirement.
Remember that President Akufo-Addo has not given up his intention to cancel CAP 30, as you cast your ballot on December 1st and vote for John Mahama who genuinely cares about your welfare.
We are also aware of attempts to buy the votes of teachers by releasing an amount of GH¢354 million just today to be paid to teachers as professional development allowance.
By this act, President Akufo-Addo thinks he can disrespect Ghanaian teachers by neglecting them for four years and then turn around to attempt to influence their votes with last-minute payouts.
In same vein, teachers and nurses who have been waiting for posting have also been granted fake clearance with a promise to employ them in April 2021.
The question that these professionals must ask themselves is, if indeed there is any genuine commitment to employ them, why not now, but in 2021?
Clearly, President Akufo-Addo is desperately trying to hoodwink them for their votes and nothing more.
We therefore urge all unemployed nurses and teachers to reject these lies and vote for President Mahama and the NDC to guarantee their employment.
Similarly, we are aware of attempts to buy the votes of NABCO beneficiaries by President Akufo-Addo and his government, through a fake portal they have created for NABCO personnel to register for so-called permanent jobs.
We are equally aware that the recent aptitude test announced by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) was a scam, as only 50 of the several thousands of NABCO beneficiaries placed with the GRA were given PIN codes to access the online test, thereby denying thousands a chance to take part in the online test.
This is all part of the deceptive gimmicks of President Akufo-Addo who is only interested in votes and not the interest of these young people.
Finally, similar vote-buying activity has been extended to market women in various parts of the country.
We are aware that amounts of money ranging from GH¢500.00 upwards have been given to thousands of market under the COVID-19 business support scheme, with instructions that the money is coming from President Akufo-Addo, and that should they vote for the NDC, those monies will be taken back.
We wish to state for the records that the money being distributed to market women was taken from the Stabilization Fund which President Mahama and the NDC created.
We therefore urge our mothers and sisters in the markets to accept these monies when they come, and vote massively for President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC to come and implement our progress policies for the Ghanaian people.
As President Mahama himself has said, he won’t take these monies back, but will rather ensure that those who haven’t benefited get cheaper credit for their businesses.
Dishonest Akufo-Addo is at his tricks again.
We appeal to Ghanaians to reject his vote buying gimmicks and vote in John Mahama for jobs, development, leadership of truth and integrity and prosperity for all.
At this juncture, ladies and Gentlemen, we wish to call on all political parties, civil society and all progressive Ghanaians to join us on Monday, 30th November, 2020, as we embark on our Probity and Accountability March in honour of our late Founder and former President Flt.
Jerry John Rawlings.
President Rawlings was a man who stood for the undying flame and principles of probity and accountability, values which are now being bastardized and trampled upon by the irredeemably corrupt Akufo-Addo government.
We call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to join us as we march against the stinking corruption that is being supervised by President Akufo-Addo.
God bless our homeland Ghana, thank you for coming.
Introduction Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the media.
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the headquarters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 10th edition of our weekly press briefing.
Our strive to deepen democracy and accountability cannot bear any fruits without your esteemed platforms, and that is why we will continue to cherish our partnership with you.
Today’s briefing is part two (2) of the Corruption Tracker Series we launched a couple of weeks ago.
You would recall, that on 8th June 2020, we launched a Corruption Tracker initiative to track the status of the numerous corruption scandals that Ghanaians have witnessed and continue to witness under the Akufo-Addo government; scandals which have occasioned huge financial losses to the state, and robbed Ghanaians of the comfort they were promised in the run up to the 2016 general elections.
As I indicated that day, the NDC is deeply worried about the fact that, resources which otherwise would have gone into developmental projects in order to uplift the poor, are sadly going to line the pockets of greedy officials of the Akufo-Addo government.
Indeed, the structural violence that corruption continues to wreak on our people cannot be underestimated, as corruption deprives the vast majority of our people an opportunity to a decent living.
This is the reason for our decision, to embark on the Corruption Tracker initiative to expose to the Ghanaian people the extent to which President Akufo-Addo and his corrupt appointees are milking the state coffers dry through graft and sleaze.
During our very maiden press conference on this series, we spoke about the “BOSTGATE” corruption scandal in which five (5) million liters of contaminated fuel was sold by BOST to some unlicensed businesses in the year 2017, in clear violation of the NPA Act and the Public Procurement Act under the watch of President Akufo-Addo.
Also, at that press conference, we condemned the fact that the proceeds of that unlawful transaction had not been paid into the state coffers by the beneficiary businesses, MOVENPINAA ENERGY AND ZUP OIL.
Against all hope, we had hoped that President Akufo-Addo was going to act on the issues we raised, by ensuring that the perpetrators of this daylight heist are prosecuted or in the very least, ensure that the proceeds from the unlawful transaction were paid into the state coffers for the benefit of Ghanaians.
Unsurprisingly, and very characteristic of him, President Akufo-Addo has once again failed to uphold the national interest, such that as we speak, the proceeds of that illegal transaction have still not been paid into the state coffers and the perpetrators of this naked thievery are still walking the streets of Ghana as free men enjoying their loot, while Ghanaians continue to suffer.
Despite the refusal of President Akufo-Addo to change his “corruption clearing agent” ways, duty calls on us as a responsible opposition, to continue our Corruption Tracker series in order to shed light on the corrupt activities of this government, and the extent of damage it is inflicting on the already-constrained public purse and all sectors of the nation, so that Ghanaians can make an informed choice at the upcoming December Polls.
PDS CORRUPTION SCANDAL Today’s Corruption Tracker will focus on one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated against the Ghanaian people by any government in Ghana’s history.
I am talking about the gargantuan and stinking PDS corruption scandal that most of you are very familiar with.
Given the possibility that some of you may have forgotten the facts of this matter, I wish to start by way of a brief recap of the sordid facts and events that led to the PDS scam.
Distinguished friends from the media, you may recall that the Akufo-Addo government sometime in July 2019, informed the Ghanaian public that it has suspended the ECG Concession Agreement with Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana, over what they described as, “material and fundamental breaches” relative to the Demand Guarantee provided by PDS to ECG.
You may also recall, that the Energy Minister, Hon.
John Peter Amewu, and his Deputies subsequently followed-up and described the entire ECG/PDS Concession Agreement as “fraudulent.”
The key facts and events that led to this situation are as follows; The PDS concession agreement was the product of the American government’s “Compact 2”, also known as the Power Compact with the government of Ghana, which required that Ghana introduces private sector participation (PSP) into ECG’s retail business, with the aim of improving the power distribution sector of the country.
The Power Compact is the result of Ghana’s successful implementation of “Compact 1”, a US$547m deal, which the Kufuor and Mills administrations between 2007-2012 used to undertake agri-cultural reforms and major infrastructural projects such as the N1 Highway project in Accra.
The PSP Concession Agreement approved by the Parliament of Ghana, contained 45 Conditions Precedent which had to be fulfilled by PDS before they take over the GHS20 billion assets of ECG.
Under Conditions precedent 24 and 31, PDS was required to provide ECG a payment security, in the form of a Letter of Credit or Demand Guarantee with a value of US$350 million from a Bank.
The purpose of this payment security was to safeguard the assets of ECG so that, in case of default by PDS, Ghana through ECG could fall on same to recover our losses.
This precondition of a demand guarantee from a Bank was therefore critical to the protection of the assets of ECG and the interest of Ghana under the ECG-PDS Concession Agreement.
Contrary to the effort of Ghana’s Parliament to protect the public purse in order to safeguard our interest in the concession, the Akufo-Addo government shamefully conspired to bend the rules for PDS by changing the key requirement of a BANK GUARANTEE to a less liquid instrument, an INSURANCE GUARANTEE, thereby jeopardizing the assets of ECG and the interest of Ghanaians.
This infamous and nation-wrecking decision was taken by high-ranking Government officials, including the Vice President of the Republic, representing President Akufo-Addo at a meeting at the Jubilee House on 19th February, 2019.
Pursuant to these scandalous amendments by the Vice President Dr.
Bawumia, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, and the Eson Benjamin-led MIDA, PDS subsequently provided an Insurance Guarantee with dubious validity to ECG, as same was described as fraudulent by Alkoot, the Qatar-based Reinsurance company which purportedly issued the said Insurance guarantee.
According to the FTI investigative report on this matter which was commissioned by MIDA at the instance of the US government, crucial advice from Ghana’s own Financial Advisors on this transaction for the necessary due diligence to be done before the said Insurance Guarantee was accepted by the Finance Ministry and ECG, and the assets of ECG handed over to PDS, was ignored.
In short, the over GHS20 billion worth of assets of ECG were handed over to PDS by the Akufo-Addo government on the 1st of March, 2019 on the basis of a fraudulent Insurance Guarantee.
It is worthy of note, that under the guise of promoting local content, 51% of the shares of PDS were allotted to companies belonging to friends and cronies of President Akufo Addo under very shady circumstances, in furtherance of the President’s state-capture agenda.
As was found by the FTI investigative report, these local companies had no technical capacity in power retailing and did not demonstrate any financial capacity to manage a critical national asset such as the GHS20 billion worth of assets of ECG.
Indeed the FTI report found that PDS could not even raise the needed funds from equity contributions of shareholders to pay for the so-called Insurance Guarantee it claims to have secured from Alkoot such that, out of the $12.25 million that was charged by Cal Bank to PDS as fees for raising the “fraudulent” Guarantee, only $1 million (8%) was funded by an equity contribution by a PDS shareholder, Philip Ayensu of TG Energy Solutions; $7 million (57%) was funded by a loan that was advanced by Cal Bank to another PDS shareholder, Santa Baron.
However, this loan was repaid from operating cash flows, i.e electricity bills collected by PDS after the transfer date.
The balance of $4.25 million (35%) was also paid directly from operating cash flows generated by PDS after the transfer date.
Subsequent attempts by the Finance Minister and cousin to the President, Ken Ofori-Atta to restructure the shareholding of PDS after the deal was sealed, with the aim of diluting and appropriating the shares of the original shareholders for other cronies of President Akufo-Addo, is what lit the spark for the whole PDS inferno.
As some of you may be aware, the original Ghanaian shareholders rebelled and refused to participate in this charade.
It is this defiance that outraged the Akufo-Addo faction and occasioned the suspension and subsequent cancelation of the PDS Concession.
It is instructive to note, that this “fraudulent” entity called PDS collected over GHS1.5 billion from electricity consumers in the form electricity bills from 1st March, 2019 to 18th October, 2019 when the concession agreement was in force.