Kunbuor?s ?Anti-Climax??

0

?Submits ?ICC Document? To Public Accounts Committee (PAC) But His ?Mystery ?614m Liability To CP? Missing In Action!

Attorney ?General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor last Friday submitted a copy of ?the final award on the Government of Ghana (GOG) and CP, Construction Pioneers Arbitration rendered by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on 2nd October, 2006? to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) nearly 24 days after he had first publicly pledged to give the PAC a copy of the ?ICC Document? which he openly ?flagged? and quoted extensively from during his appearance at the Committee?s (PAC) public sitting on Tuesday, 12th June, 2012.

Readers will recall that in our Thursday, 5th July, 2012 edition, we reported on the protracted failure or inability of Dr. Kunbuor to deliver on his pledge in spite of a series of formal and non-formal attempts by the PAC to get a copy of the said document from him.
?On the 13th of June, 2012, I wrote to you on the above subject. I expressed the Committee?s desire to receive copies of the documents requested by the close of work on Friday15th June, 2012. I regret that the Committee has as at now not been obliged with the benefit of the said document. Your failure in this regard is greatly hampering the sittings of the Committee. We ask you to kindly make the documents available to the Committee latest by Friday, 29th June, 2012?, wrote Albert Kan-Dapaah, Chairman of the PAC, in a second letter to Dr. Kunbuor dated 27th June, 2012.

The PAC Chairman?s 27th June, 2012 letter attracted a quick response from the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice. The Acting Chief Director of the Ministry, Suleiman Ahmed, on behalf of the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, informed the Chairman of the PAC that Dr. Kunbuor had travelled out of Accra on official duty and was expected back in office next week.

Your above referenced letter will be brought to his attention when he returns. Thanks, in anticipation of your understanding and cooperation?, articulated Suleiman Ahmed.

However, a day after The New Crusading Guide?s story titled ?Kunbuor?s mystery ?614m Public Accounts Committee (PAC) still waiting for ?ICC Document? on CP Judgement debt?, Dr. Kunbuor reportedly instructed his office to deliver a copy of the ?ICC Document? he had claimed contained evidence to the effect that the totality of Ghana?s liability to CP Construction Pioneers before the advent of the Mills Administration and the Betty Mould Iddrisu-led negotiations between the Government of Ghana(GOG) and CP Construction Pioneers, was ?614m.

??So I am saying that the total of all sorts of things- interest and all those things that built up, it reached ?614m as at the time the settlement had come in?, testified Dr. Kunbuor at the 12th June, 2012 public sitting of the PAC.
??When a matter of such a legal nature comes, the question that any prudent person would be asking himself as the Attorney General is that, proceeding to settle and reduce this liability from ?613m to ?94m. The test is, is it in the interest of the State of Ghana? Kunbuor queried.

This revelation by Dr. Kunbuor obviously surprised members of the PAC and the general public since it was the first time Ghanaians were being told that Ghana?s liability to CP Construction Pioneers had reached ?614m before settlement kicked in. His revelation was in sharp contrast to Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu?s public disclosure on March 12, 2012 that she had had to negotiate Ghana?s liability to CP Construction Pioneers from ?162m to ?94m.

Meanwhile, a source close to the PAC has intimated that the ?ICC Document? submitted to it by Dr. Kunbuor, interestingly and strangely does not contain any evidence to support the testimony he made before the PAC on 12th June, 2012.

?The document he has sent to us is the same document we already had and it does not support his story of ?614m liability to CP Construction Pioneers. What the Attorney- General has brought is the Final Award of October 2, 2006 which we already had. His ?614m claim has turned out to be a myth?, underscored a member of the PAC who spoke to this paper on condition of strict confidentiality.

He further disclosed that Dr. Kunbuor was yet to provide the PAC with a copy of the legal opinion allegedly rendered by former Attorney-General, Joe Ghartey which he (Kunbuor) had ?copiously referred to? during his testimony to the PAC on 12th June, 2012.
?We sincerely hope he will make a copy of that legal opinion available to the PAC sooner than later, and we pray that its contents will reflect the exact attributions he had made to Joe Ghartey. We don?t want a repeat of what has happened with regard to the ICC?s Final Award delivered on October 2, 2006. The integrity of both the Attorney- General and the proceedings of the PAC ought to be sustained and respected by all?, quipped the PAC member.

A keen observer of PAC?s public sittings, when told of the latest development, expressed shock and wondered why a sitting Attorney General would seek to provide unsustainable and unsupportable testimony before an important Committee of Parliament like the Public Accounts Committee( PAC) in the full glare of publicity.

?What an anti- climax to the so-called ?blistering and exhilarating performance and the very high standard? set by an incumbent Attorney -General before the PAC. What happened to the ?quality beads which do make no noise? as published by a section of the pro-government private media? What an anti-climax!?, exclaimed the PAC watcher and analyst of parliamentary proceedings.

He insisted that there was no reason why a Minister of State should paint an exaggerated picture to rationalise or justify any government policy or decision.

?Why quote huge or mythical figures to rationalise your actions or decisions when you know that sooner or later, those gargantuan figures or exaggerated stories will be exposed as false and or mythical? Why??, he lamented.

Please stay tuned ?.
Source: Parliamentary Desk/New Crusading Guide/Ghana

Send your news stories to [email protected] Follow News Ghana on Google News

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here