Benjamin Akyena Brentuo, the media liaison officer for the embattled National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Woyome, has stated emphatically that Waterville Holdings Limited instructed his boss to sue on their behalf.
“Mr. Alfred Woyome sued in his personal capacity because Waterville directly assigned him the right (to sue the state), which was contained in letters presented to the Attorney-General [by Waterville]” he added.
After a judgement debt of about GH¢58 million was awarded to Mr. Woyome for breach of a contract he won to build stadia in the erstwhile Kufuor regime prior to the CAN 2008 tournament, members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) have raised questions about the capacity of his suit.
The issue became murkier after former Chief of Staff under the Kufuor administration, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani, who played a key role in the award of the contract revealed on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem that the then NPP government never signed a contract with Woyome to warrant the payment of any amount as reparations.
officials of the NPP said they could not understand why the Attorney-General (AG) disregarded the court order to pay GH¢17 million to Mr. Woyome but went ahead to instruct the Finance Minister to pay the entire sum of GH¢42 million to the detriment of the state.
The largest opposition party believes the NDC guru had no locus as an individual to sue the state for an abrogation of a contract that never existed.
However, at a news conference in Accra to set the records straight on the issue, Benjamin Akyena Brentuo read a copy of a letter he claimed was written and signed in 2010 by officials of Waterville to the Attorney General in which it spelt out its relationship with Alfred Woyome.
He stated that Mr. Woyome was the financial consultant of Waterville hence Mr. Woyome did not err by going to court in his personal capacity to seek damages for breach of contract.
Akyena Brentuo insists the money paid to Mr. Woyome was done with due regard to the law and that the judgement debt was subsequently approved by parliament.
He expressed dismay at what he described as a spin being put on the call by President J.E.A. Mills to investigate the entire controversy.
Akyena Brentuo reinforced his call on government to charge the key players in the Kufuor government who abrogated a legitimate contract won by Mr. Woyome with causing financial loss to the state.