Former Chief of Staff Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani has rubbished claims by Waterville BVI, Alfred Agbesi Woyome’s alleged partners in the gargantuan crimes against the people of Ghana, that government still owes them some amount as compensation for the cancellation of the contract for the refurbishment of three stadia in the year 2008.
Waterville is one of the companies that benefitted from the infamous judgment debt scandal, out of which self-acclaimed financier of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alfred Woyome, bagged well over GH¢51.2million while Waterville secured €25 million.
Mr Mpiani, the man who handled most of these transactions at the time, by virtue of his position at the Presidency, considered this claim by Waterville that they were entitled to compensation as completely bogus.
That, according to him, was because he personally wrote to Waterville informing them that the money owed them had been paid in full to the subcontractors, Michelleti and Consar, who were then working on the projects as per an earlier agreement.
He made these comments on Joy FM, an Accra-based private radio station in response to Andrea Orlandi, Waterville Managing Director’s claims that the company deserved some compensation because of wrongful termination of the contract.
He expressed extreme surprise that the company could come back and make such weird claims, wondering why they did not make same under the erstwhile Kufuor administration.
Andrea Orlandi embarked on a face-saving campaign when he held a press conference on Monday at which he said, “There had been nothing illegal or improper about Waterville’s actions or decisions in competing for, executing or laying claims for cancellation of the contract to construct and refurnish five stadia” and that “the company has only sought full compensation for the work it did and the losses it incurred as a result of the government’s action in cancelling its contract.”
But the former Chief of Staff considered the decision of the Mills government to go into arbitration with Waterville as ill-informed since in his opinion it lacked basis.
He therefore challenged Waterville Holdings to produce evidence to support its claim that it was awarded a contract to construct five stadia instead of the three at Accra and Kumasi.
Mr Mpiani described the claim by Waterville as false and wondered why the construction firm was deliberately misleading Ghanaians since according to him the company was never given a contract to work on five stadia as suggested.
An Accra-based lawyer, Ace Annan Ankomah, believed the security agencies still had a lot more work to do in unravelling the mystery behind the payment of the judgment debt to especially Mr Woyome and Waterville.
That, according to him, was because the MD of Waterville ended up raising lots of mindboggling questions which were begging for answers.
Mr Ankomah, a Civil Procedure lecturer at the Ghana School of Law, said, “There are many questions they didn’t answer. My view is that Waterville and its directors ought to be joined to the ongoing legal proceedings. These guys ought to be invited by the police again. It is time for Ghana to sue Waterville.”
He therefore stressed the need for Waterville to be joined in a fresh suit in the fight to recover the money, since “what they have done is to muddy the waters some more and I think that people who have had any engagement with our money and our public funds should show us some more respect and credit us with a little bit more intelligence than what Waterville sought to do yesterday (Monday)”.